Families homeless after blaze destroys 10 houses

National

OVER 150 people from 10 families have been left homeless after fire gutted their houses at Sipiga village outside Goroka on Tuesday.
Sipiga Community Association chairman Noko Koko said the fire started at 3pm on Tuesday and was spread quickly by the wind.
He said the fire started in a kunai grass house and spread quickly to nine other semi-permanent houses.
“Families lost everything they had and are only left with the clothes they were wearing,” he said.
“More than 150 people who reside in these houses are now left homeless.
“All their properties ranging from clothes, electrical items, tools, utensils, mattresses, pillows, blankets and other household items are gone.”
Koko said an elderly man sleeping in one of the houses almost died when smoke filled the room he was sleeping in. Two girls, one of them disabled, were also in the house.
He said a group of students managed to break in and rescue the man and girls.
Koko and Sipiga community leader Moi Warigi appealed to family members, business houses and politicians to support them to restore their lives.