Moses Bikala
27 November 2008
Kampala — A TOTAL of 236 people have been left homeless after fire gutted 58 grass-thatched huts at Musoli landing site on Lake Victoria in Bugiri district on Tuesday night.
Property worth sh12m was destroyed.
The fire is believed to have started after an arsonist threw a cigarette on the roof of one of the huts. Residents said the fire spread to several huts due to strong winds that blow from the lake at night.
Mutumba sub-county chairman, Charles Kitosi, said investigations into the fire were underway. He said the district disaster committee would be notified to mobilise assistance like food, blankets and medicine.
The resident district commissioner, Margaret Mwanamoiza, said the inferno was the second in four years.
In 2004, six people were wounded when 18 huts got burnt at the same landing site. This time, no injuries were reported.
Mwanamoiza urged the people to be vigilant by reporting suspicious people.
"We are trying to follow this matter and there is a tip that will lead us to the people behind all this," he said.
Over 250 houses have been burnt in Bugiri district this year by what is believed to be a group of arsonists.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 New Vision. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
