Confirming the incident exclusively to The Standard yesterday, a grief-stricken Mr Christopher Belford, father to Ms Eleanor Belford and grandfather to Zahra Secka recalled: “On Thursday night I was at home with my daughter and my two granddaughters in the house. Between 1:30 to 2:00am, I heard a very loud sound from the top of the ceiling. Then I jumped and opened the back door and went outside. I later entered my sitting room and noticed that part of the ceiling was ripped up. At that juncture, my daughter came out from her bedroom and asked what was happening. I told her there was a big bang from the top of the ceiling. She then decided to go inside bedroom and bring her daughter out. She got trapped inside because by then there was a lot of smoke. The fire had engulfed the entire house.
“Neighbours swiftly started coming out to help in putting out the ravaging inferno. The fire and rescue services were contacted but before they arrived, everything in the house was burnt down to ashes. They came with a fire truck and within 30 minutes, they said the water in the truck had run out. It was only when the second truck arrived that the fire was finally put out. This was around 5am. I would not know what caused this and other circumstances surrounding the incident because it is not caused by electricity, nor was it caused by gas. The deceased were later taken to the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital in Banjul. We are now waiting for the police and fire services report after which we will decide a date for their burials.”
]]>
