A SENIOR citizen perished in a house fire yesterday morning as her family members watched helplessly.
Ram Pati, 75, was inside her corrugated iron and wooden house at Viseisei, Lautoka, when the fire started around 7.45am.
Ms Pati’s daughter-in-law Anjila Wati said she screamed for help when she noticed smoke coming out of the house.
“All I could do was cry out for someone to help her,” she said.
“I was in the backyard feeding our chicken when I heard someone shouting they had seen smoke coming out of my mother-in-law’s house.
“When I ran out to the front, there was so much fire that I couldn’t even go inside to help her out.
“I tried so hard to get inside, but there were things falling inside from the ceiling.”
Mrs Wati said her only option was to seek help from passers-by.
“There were people who were stopping to help, but even they could not get into the house,” she said.
“Then the fire trucks came around but by then we knew it was too late.”
Mrs Wati said she had served her mother-in-law’s breakfast earlier that morning.
“I didn’t know that it would be the last time I was going to see her,” she said.
Ms Pati’s extended family was gathered near the Viseisei home yesterday as fire and police officers combed the remains of the house.
Msa Pati was taken to the Lautoka Hospital where a post-mortem examination is expected to be carried out.
Police spokesperson Ana Naisoro confirmed the fatal fire, adding that investigations were continuing.
