West Families Lose All In House Fire
Mereleki Nai “We are asking the public to help rebuild our home. We have lost everything. Our children must go back to school this week.
Monday 29 January 2024 | 10:04
Ritesh Kumar is counting the costs as years of sweat of saving to build a
family home was razed to the ground in a matter of hours.
It has caused a painful experience for the47-year-old farmer of Nawaka, Nadi who lost his three-bedroom concrete home in a fire on Saturday morning.
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His two other flats, one occupied by his eldest daughter and her family and the other was on rent.
The father of three children, who is the advisory councilor of Nawaka, was alerted by his youngest son about the fire which took place around 4:45am.
“I was woken up by my son who was sleeping in the sitting room,” he said.
When he came into the sitting room part of it was engulfed in fire and there was black smoke.
“The first thing that came to my mind was to leave everything behind and take all family members to safety. I even tried to put the fire out by using the blanket, but it was too late,” he said.
Ritesh Kumar at his home in Nawaka. Photo: Mereleki Nai
Shazin Nisha, 39, said all school items prepared for the back-to-school of her children were destroyed by fire.
“We are asking the public to help rebuild our home. We have lost everything. Our children must go back to school this week.
This is such a painful experience for us,” she added.
Joint investigations between the police and the National Fire Authority are underway.
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