Heroism: Woman dies saving granddaughter

By Benjamin Ngah

                               Residents of Mbengwi road neighbourhood in Bamenda on Tuesday January 21, 2014 were interrupted from their sleep by the wailings of Mrs. Mbaku Comfort and the children. Their house was on fire at about 1am because of poor electrical connections which led to a short circuit. The intervention of the population that came out was futile as the blazing flames consumed the whole structure.

                         Mrs Mbaku and the other three members of the family had successfully escaped to safety but for one of her granddaughter, Joy who was still asleep in one of the rooms. She mustered courage, forced herself through the fire into the house, rescued her granddaughter but could not make it herself out of the blazing flames. She fell on the blazing wool carpet incurring brutal burns as Joy joyfully and escaped to safety. Rushed to the hospital in Bamenda, the hospital authorities recommended her immediate transfer to Douala for better medical care where she finally succumbed to the cool hands of death. The army rescue team arrived the scene quite prompt; it was late for Mrs. Mbaku who had demonstrated great heroism. They only succeeded in stopping the fire from extending to nearby apartments which were already in danger.

                       The damage caused by the fire, according eyewitness report, is worth millions of FCFA. Reports also talked of some unscrupulous neighbours who under the pretext of helping out with some bit and pieces out of the house rather took advantage and transported some of the items to their various homes. Some of the items stolen as related by some family members included cloths, TV sets, text books and several house utensils.

                      Poor electrical and amateurish connections are in most cases the cause of fire disasters in Cameroon. Several markets, workshops and homes have been destroyed and the primary cause being poor electrical connections. Since electrical supply in Cameroon is still very much epileptic, the voltage supply also poorly regulated and its fluctuation could be the cause of all these accidents.