From Kwame Asare Boadu, Seikwa.

TRAGEDY struck a household at Nasana near Seikwa in the Brong Ahafo Region on February 27, when two boys aged 12 and 14, were burnt to death in a blazing fire that engulfed a room in which they were sleeping. The deceased, Augustine Nuro, 12, a stage 4 pupil of Christ International School at Sunyani, and Kofi Manu, 14, a JSS 2 student of the Nasana L/A JSS, were relations.

A family source traced the fire outbreak to a kerosene lamp which was placed on a locally made mattress on which the boys were sleeping in the room.

The source said Nuro travelled from Sunyani to Nasana that day to collect his school fees from his mother. In the evening, he decided to study with Manu in the room, with the aid of lantern.

In the absence of a chair and table, they decided to lie on the mattress and study with the aid of a lantern. In the course of learning that, they fell asleep while the lantern was still on the bed.

The source said around midnight, residents of the house were awaken by a thick smoke in the house. On realising that the smoke was coming from the room in which the boys were sleeping the residents raised alarm. When the fire was brought under control, the charred bodies of the boys were found. According to the source, the lantern might have fallen on the mattress at a time the boys were asleep, which resulted in the mattress catching fire. They have since been buried.