Tragedy as wall collapses, kills two girls

Tuesday, December 9 2014, will remain a dark day for the Chaona family of Area 6 in Blantyre’s Machinjiri Township as the first rains in the city felled a wall that killed their only two children.

Mable Pemphero, 10, and eight-year-old Agnes, after knocking off from school on Tuesday afternoon, passed by their friend’s house in Area 3 in the same township, just as they would do most of the times.

Apparently, Agnes was to have a joint birthday party with her father, Willy Chaona, this coming Saturday.

He said because of the upcoming family event, Agnes and her elder sister went to Area 3 to invite their friends, whose parents are also family friends, to the party.

Chaona, a primary school head teacher, said when he noted that the children had not returned and darkness had fallen, he asked the mother to find out what could be keeping them.

“It was at this time that the mother phoned her fellow woman and the two agreed that the girls should sleep there and come home early in the morning.

“This was their first time to spend a night at their friend’s house as most of the times they would just go, spend some time and come back before darkness,” said a grief-stricken and tearful Chaona.

He said it was around 11pm when he received a disturbing call telling him that there had been an accident at Area 3, heavy rains had felled a wall fence which fell on the wall of the bedroom where his two daughters and their friend were sleeping.

According to Chaona’s uncle, Hastings Chikuni, the tragedy is unbearable to the family. It was supposed to be celebrations time that little Agnes had clocked 8 on December 3 last week, not that people should gather to mourn her passing.

The arrival of schoolmates from South Lunzu Primary School at the bereaved house yesterday  told of how unbearable the tragedy rocked not only the family, but even neighbours and their fellow pupils.

Mable Pemphero, a Standard Seven pupil, and Agnes, a Standard Four pupil, will be buried today at Kausiwa Village, Traditional Authority Kuntaja in Blantyre, leaving the couple with no child. A status too hard for the parents to live with.

Blantyre Police Station spokesperson Elizabeth Divala said in an interview the police received a report from Gertrude Mtipo, mother to Agnes and Mable’s friend, that a fence had fallen on her house and killed two children.

She said Mtipo’s children had just sustained minor injuries from the accident and a post-mortem to find out what could have caused the death of Agnes and Mable was yet to be done.