A two-year-old boy identified as Hopeness Billiat has died following a house fire on Friday in Mangochi district.
According to Mangochi police deputy spokesperson Amina Daudi, parents of the boy went to the house of Village headman Lanimashashe to attend a development meeting and left him playing with his two friends aged three and four in their grass thatched house.
The kids later decided to roast maize inside the house but due to wind the house caught fire.
The older children managed to escape while Hopeness failed.
“His father along with other villagers rushed there but only to find the whole house completely burnt to ashes and Hopeness already dead,” Daudi said.
Postmortem conducted at Lungwena Health centre confirmed that death was due to suffocation and burn wounds.
The child hailed from Lanimashashe village, Traditional Authority Chowe in Mangochi.
Meanwhile, Police in Mangochi have advised parents to always make sure that their children are under the guidance of an older person.
