A FATHER and his three children perished following a fire outbreak at Sakina area in the city, before dawn on Saturday.

Zuberi Hassan Msemo, an employee of Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) died with his two daughter and a son after a notebook computer which was left tethered to a socket for charging overnight exploded.

Police said that the TANAPA official was rushed to Mount Meru regional hospital after the incident but lost his life hours later, while medical experts say the cause of death was suffocation from thick smoke.

It spread out from the fire outbreak enveloping the house as occupants of the house were fast asleep, with residents attributing the fire to switching power on and off intermittently, bringing about a short circuit disaster.

A fire and rescue force team arrived late on the scene, and helped to evacuate people from the house to take them to hospital, while the police and neighbours identified the dead as daughters Mariam and Salma, as well as son Bisma, apart from their father.

Police said that there were 11 people in the house, with eight others badly injured with burns, including the mother of the children, Jasmin Khatibu Msuya and her baby, Firdaus, admitted to hospital.

Others are Mariam Mussa Zerawanga, who is late Zuberi’s mother, as well as his brother Musa and sister Mwanaidi, There was also Abdulkarim Ramadhan Mrindoko, a nephew and Esther, the house servant.

A lady in the neighbourhood said she took the first child to Levolosi Hospital but the medical staff failed to provide first aid to the youngsters as they could not identify them and place their cases on a register.

The neighbour was not familiar with the names of the children and thus could not register their names, she said, wondering why they couldn’t just attend to them and save lives. 

“Names aren’t important in such situations,” the neighbour emphasized, meanwhile at the patients were referred to the regional hospital for urgent care.