Fire razes down houses in SHP

By ANDREW ALPHONSE
ABOUT 891 villagers in remote Kulipini village in Pangia, Southern Highlands province are homeless after fire razed through the entire village and burnt down their homes and properties.
The incident happened last Thursday when the entire villagers were out in their gardens.
Local leader Joe Kuna inspected the site last Friday morning with three policemen from Ialibu after being alerted.
Mr Kuna said yesterday from Mendi that about 23 houses built adjacent to each other in the village were all razed to ashes together with clothing, beddings, utensils and other personal belongings.
He said the fire started from a small spark from a roof top of one of the kunai-thatched houses and quickly spread from one house to the other with the assistance of the breeze.
The houses were built one after the other in a circular pattern, separated by only a distance of a metre and half.
Only the church and four houses that were built separately were saved from the blaze.
Mr Kuna said the people built makeshift tents and were now taking refuge without any blankets at the church building.
Mr Kuna said assistance for the people to rebuild their homes and lives once again was imminent.
Mr Kuna together with local councillor Eric Kone had made a report of the fire to the provincial disaster office in Mendi for their deliberations.
Ialibu police yesterday confirmed the reports of the fire and believed that it may be the work of arsonists.
Police said they were still investigating to establish the case of the fire while no casualties and injuries were reported.
Acting provincial police commander Insp Benson Osil said he was yet to get a full report of the incident.