Man, lover killed in fire outbreak at Fiapre-Notre

A man and his girlfriend were killed when fire gutted their four-bedroom apartment at Fiapre-Notre, in the Sunyani West Municipality of the Bono Region.

The deceased, who has been identified as Alex Antwi, 35, and the female partner, only named Hanifer, 22, has been deposited at the mortuary for autopsy and preservation.

The Bono Regional Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), Divisional Officer Grade III, Ruth Mensah, con­firmed the tragedy to the Ghana­ian Times in a telephone interview.

He said in the early hours of last Friday, the Regional Fire Command received a distress call about a fire outbreak at a house at Fiapre-Notre at around 12:31 am.

DO III Mensah said firefighters and two fire tenders were deployed from Abesim and Sunyani Municipal Assembly to the scene.

She said that the fire was ex­tinguished at about 1:55 am and the firefighters handed over the charred bodies to the police, who were at the scene, for further investigations.

The PRO said the cause of the fire was currently under investi­gations.

DO III Mensah said accord­ing to the mother of Antwi, that fateful day, she was in her room at about midnight and noticed smoke emanating from the son’s room.

The PRO said the mother raised the alarm and escaped from the room with her grand­children, but it was too late for the son and his partner to escape.

DO III Mensah appealed to the public to make fire safety a priority at all times, to save lives and properties.

He urged the public to immediately call the Ghana National Fire Service on its emergency phone numbers.