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namib times
SERVING THE COASTAL COMMUNITY SINCE 1958 NO 6770 FRIDAY 20 JULY 2018 Tel: +264 64 - 205854 / +264 64 - 461866 /Fax: +264 64 - 204813 / 064 - 461824 / Website: www.namibtimes.net
Faulty gas bottle starts inferno
Why “some of us” pay more than 4 % more for prepaid electricity
Langstrand woman loses all her belongings in the fire
Floris Steenkamp
Eileen van der Schyff A faulty gas bottle is believed to have been the cause of a devastating fire in a house at Langstrand on Tuesday night. A middle-aged woman, who was alone in the house at the time of the incident, recalled her horrific moments in an interview with namib times a day later. The distraught woman explained she recently “I lost so much. I lost my belongings through the moved from Swakopmund to Langstrand and fire and also though the process of the fire brigade much of her houseware was not yet unpacked extinguishing the fire”, the woman explained. and stored in carton boxes. She remains very emotional over the incident and She felt cold and decided to use her gas heater. says she purchased the gas bottle at a service As she ignited the heater she immediately rea- station at Swakopmund. She believes someone lised some was wrong. A strange noise from the need to take responsibility for her loss. According gas cylinder's valve alerted her. to the woman, the Chief of the Walvis Bay fire “I grabbed my cell phone to record the noise, brigade Mr Denis Basson shares her sentiments. with the intention to send the voice file to my He inspected what remains of the heater and gas father for advice”, she explained. Adding when bottle after the incident. she tried to put out the flame, she discovered to With escalating electricity prices, residents are Continues on page 2 her horror the flame would not go out and gas was coming from the cylinder, despite efforts to close it. The heater caught fire and started to burn profusely. Out of fear for a fiery explosion, the woman went outside and called for help. A neighbour heard her calls and in no time a small crowd of people gathered. “No one could really do anything to help, as everyone out of fear for a possible explosion stayed at bay. “I did not know what to do. All I was thinking of was phoning the fire brigade. I asked for the emergency number, the woman explained. All the while the fire increased in intensity and soon the whole area was ablaze. The house where the incident occurred is a multi-storey structure. Only one floor was gutted by the fire, but when the fire brigade arrived at the scene, firemen had no other choice than to battle the fire with a lot of water. It lead to more damage to the garage area where much of her belongings was still in storage.
If you have a 30 Ampere circuit breaker installed in your home or business, and you have prepaid electricity, you are in for a nasty surprise when it comes to the increased prepaid electricity tariffs ErongoRED announced recently. In the past both 20 Ampere and 30 Ampere prepaid electricity consumers were receiving a subsidised prepaid electricity rate from ErongoRED. ErongoRED has a so-called “pro-poor” prepaid electricity tariff in place, to assist the poor and other vulnerable segments of Erongo's communities by subsidising a portion of the prepaid tariff. However, after a study ErongoRED concluded that as many as 48 % of active prepaid electricity consumers in Erongo are utilising 30 Ampere circuit breakers. Of that 48 % the majority of prepaid consumers are people who earn a decent income and are enjoying high living standards. Continues on page 2
Four-year-old boy killed in shack fire
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Locker vom Hocker
Eileen van der Schyff
A shack fire claimed the life of a four-yearold boy in Kuisebmond early on Wednesday morning. A fire gutted the shack in which the boy and his sixteen year old sister were preparing for school. The children's mother already left for work when the tragedy happened. According to the spokesperson of the Namibian Police in Erongo, Deputy Commissioner Erastus Ikuyu, the boy, Simson Albertu, and his older sister were left alone to prepare for school. The children's mother already left for work. The fire broke out at around 06:15. An electric short circuit is suspected to have caused the fire. The sixteen-year-old managed to escape the fire, but sadly could not safe her brother.
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