Two die in Chirimba after fence fell on them
A somber mood has engulfed people of Chirimba Township in Blantyre after two people died and two others were seriously injured on Monday afternoon when a brick wall fence collapsed and fell on them.
An eye witness Lucy Sungani said the accident happened at around one o’clockin the afternoon following three hours of heavy rains. The four were passing behind the fence when the accident happened.
“I was in my sitting room when I heard the sound of the fence collapsing; at first I thought it was my bedroom wall but when I rushed outside I discovered that two panels of my neighbour’s fence had fallen down and a man named Paul Buleya was just close by, wounded on his leg.
“He told us some people were buried by the bricks and together with my neighbours we started removing the bricks and found the four in a critical condition. We informed the police and the owner of the plot provided us with transport to take the injured to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH),” explained Sungani.
She added that the two, a man and a little girl were pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital while the other two, a woman and a girl, were taken into the intensive care unit while Buleya was treated as an outpatient.
Spokesperson for Blantyre Police Station, Elizabeth Divala identified the deceased as 37 year-old Daudi Mpakula from Njerenje village in the area of Traditional Authority (T/A) Nkaya in Balaka and 5 year-old Yankho Mkandawire of Mwachande village in the area of T/A Machinjiri in Blantyre.
She said late Yankho’s sister; 9 year-old Shirra and a woman identified as Amina Simoko were the ones admitted to QECH and were in a critical condition.
“The two little sisters were coming from their grandmothers’ house going to their mothers place while Mpakula who was a business man was coming from the market going to his house when they met the ordeal,” added Divala.
When Nation Online visited the area today[Tuesday], it transpired that the body of Mpakula had been taken to his home village in Balaka for burial while funeral ceremony for late Yankho was taking place at her mother’s house in the township.
