A family of seven, including five children, has perished in a devastating fire that engulfed their home at Akyempim in the Upper Denkyira East Municipality of the Central Region in the early hours of Saturday, November 1, 2025.
According to a statement from the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), the Dunkwa-On-Offin Fire Station received a distress call at 1:04 a.m. and promptly dispatched a crew to the scene.
The firefighters arrived at 1:20 a.m. to find one of the bedrooms in the four-bedroom house completely engulfed in flames and locked from the outside.
The GNFS team contained the fire at 1:32 a.m., preventing it from spreading to the rest of the house.
However, seven occupants — two adults and five children aged between one and 15 years — were trapped inside and could not be rescued.
Preliminary investigations suggest that the husband of the deceased woman deliberately set the fire.
The suspect allegedly locked the victims in the bedroom before setting it ablaze and fleeing into a nearby bush, where he is believed to have taken his own life.
The charred bodies of the victims were handed over to the Ghana Police Service at Atekyim for further investigation.
Police later discovered the suspect’s body hanging from a tree in the nearby bush.
In the statement, signed by Divisional Officer Grade Two (DO II) Abdul Wasiu Hudu, Central Regional Public Relations Officer of the GNFS, the Service extended its deepest condolences to the bereaved family and community.
“The Ghana National Fire Service remains committed to its core mandate of saving lives and protecting property, and continues to work tirelessly to ensure the safety of all citizens,” the statement concluded.
