Please save my husband.

Shiwani Lata could only cry out these words as the fire that partly destroyed a three-bedroom double-storey concrete house and completely destroyed a three-flat wooden-and-corrugated-iron house killed her husband.

The incident happened at Yarawa Road, Nabua, on Tuesday night.

During a phone interview yesterday, Ms Lata, 23, could not hold back her tears recalling how she tried to save her husband, Sanesh Prasad.

“I ran out of the house and went back in to try and get my husband who was locked inside our room. I was calling for help but nobody came to help me,” Ms Lata said.

“I was really scared and terrified, because it was the first time for me to experience a fire.”

Ms Lata said her 23-year-old husband was a mechanic at the Sunbeam Transport Limited.

“We have been living in this flat for 11 years,” she said.

Ranjeeta Devi, a tenant, said all she could think of was getting her five-year-old daughter and husband out of their flat.

“I could recall Shiwani screaming and crying, I couldn’t tell what was happening because I was just crying, please Lord take away the fire, I couldn’t see anyone, I was just crying and crying.

“It is by the grace of God that my family is still alive. We are thankful to our neighbours and families for helping us during this time,” Mrs Devi said.

The landlord, Anju Mala, said she had about 10 tenants and some of them, including Ms Lata, were at living at her top flat when her husband said there was smoke emanating from one of the bottom flats.

“The incident happened around 11:40pm. When we came down the tenants were already outside, but Mr Prasad was still locked inside the room,” Ms Mala said.

A press release by the National Fire Authority said the Suva Fire Station received a fire emergency call at 11:44pm on Tuesday night.

It said the fire team managed to save the owner’s car and three other houses in the area. NFA are still investigating the cause of the fire.

Edited by Maraia Vula

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