Seven family members killed in house fire in Uganda

Seven people from the same family were killed in a house fire in Uganda.

The incident reportedly happened in the eastern Ugandan district of Bukedea on Tuesday evening, a police spokesperson said Wednesday.

 Seven family members killed in house fire in Uganda





Michael Odongo, East Kyoga regional police spokesperson, told Xinhua by telephone that the tragic incident happened after a jerrycan containing petrol caught fire at Amutoro village in Bukedea trading center at around 20:00 local time.

He said the woman who was cooking from outside their hut carried the charcoal stove inside the house leading to the deadly fire.

“We received a report from Amutoro on the fire incident and from her fact findings, we learnt that one of the victims, who was the mother in the home, carried a charcoal stove into the house and unfortunately there was a can filled with petrol in the hut. The seven died of horrific burns. The family has been dealing in illegal business of selling petrol,” said Odongo.

One of the villagers at the scene mentioned that there was nothing the could do as the ravaging fire was burning intensely as a result of the materials used in constructing the hut.

Odongo said the badly charred bodies were taken to Aturutur Hospital for a postmortem before handing them to the relatives for burial.