Ex-miner dies in house fire

AN 83-YEAR-OLD former Vatukoula Gold Mines worker perished in a house fire at Nararavou Village, Ra, on Wednesday.

Mosese Vunivesilevu died after the two-bedroom wooden and corrugated iron home he was living in was razed to the ground.

His son Pio Naqiri said the fire broke out just after midnight.

“Some people were drinking grog and when they saw the flames coming out of his house they began calling out, I came running and tried to kick the door down together with some other men, but couldn’t because it was locked from the inside,” he said.

“We used buckets and hoses and tried to put the fire out, but it was too strong, we tried our best but we couldn’t save him.”

Mr Naqiri’s wife, Ulamila Drau, described her late father-in-law as a “very hardworking man”.

“He worked in the village plantation until he was in his 80s and only stopped about a year ago,” she said.

Police spokeswoman Ana Naisoro said a joint investigation with the National Fire Authority to ascertain the cause of the blaze was in progress.

Pictures: REINAL CHAND/SUPPLIED Mosese Vunivesilevu. Picture: SUPPLIED Pio Naqiri with his wife Ulamila Drau and children mourn the death of his father Mosese Vunivesilevu after the house fire at Nararavou Village in Ra. Inset: Former goldminer Mosese Vunivesilevu.

Picture. REINAL CHAND Pio Naqiri with his wife Ulamila Drau and children.