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Beitbridge Bureau

A suspected illegal fuel dealer was on Sunday night burnt to death when her house caught fire while she prepared supper in the same room that she kept petrol. The incident occurred around 7pm and it took the local fire fighters close to three hours to put out the fire. Matabeleland South police spokesperson Inspector Philisani Ndebele confirmed the incident last night.He identified the woman as Sithabile Mbedzi (30). Her body was taken to Beitbridge District Hospital mortuary.

“Indications are that she was cooking in the same room with a 20-litre container of petrol. During the process, the house caught fire and she was trapped inside and burnt to death.

“We are yet to establish the real cause of fire. When the house caught fire, some neighbours tried to douse it with water and called in the local firefighters, but it was unfortunate she was trapped and burnt to death,” he said.

Inspector Ndebele said people should always desist from illegally selling fuel from their houses or keeping it inside their houses.

Beitbridge Town Secretary Mr Loud Ramakgapola described the incident as sad and unfortunate.

“We regret the death of a young lady, but we are worried about the cause, which is fuel being kept in houses. We want to urge the members of the community and vehicle owners to make use of service stations.

He said they were working with police, the Environmental Management Agency and Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority to curb the illegal sale of fuel from illegal points, including houses.