Christopher Nyika
A 76-YEAR-OLD woman from Madumabisa Village in Chief Hwange’s area died after the wall of her bedroom reportedly collapsed on her while she slept.
Rosina Ndlovu was sharing a four-cornered, one-roomed house built with tin-moulded mud bricks with her granddaughter when disaster struck in the early hours of Thursday morning.
According to family members, the two had retired to bed around 10PM on Wednesday night with everything normal.
But at about 5AM, Rosina’s granddaughter, Maria Katuku, was jolted awake by a loud crashing sound.
“She just heard bricks falling from above the door,” said a family source. “When she tried to check what was happening, she realised her grandmother was trapped under the rubble.”
Maria heard her grandmother struggling to breathe as bricks pinned her down. In panic, she rushed out into the chilly dawn and alerted her aunt, Safire Ndlovu, who was sleeping in a nearby house within the same homestead.
The two women returned to the room and began frantically removing the debris with their bare hands in a desperate attempt to save the elderly woman.
Sadly, their efforts came too late.
Villagers who gathered at the homestead described the scene as emotional and distressing, with family members wailing as the reality of the tragedy sank in.
The collapsed section of the wall was near the door frame, and a heap of bricks lay scattered inside the small room.
Confirming the incident, Matabeleland North police spokesperson Inspector Glory Banda said the elderly woman died after a wall of the house she was sleeping in collapsed on her.
“I can confirm a sudden death incident in Madumabisa Village, Hwange, where a 76-year-old woman died after a wall collapsed while she was asleep. Investigations are underway to establish the exact circumstances surrounding the incident,” said Insp Banda.
Rosina’s body was taken to Hwange Colliery Hospital and is expected to be transferred to the United Bulawayo Hospitals for a post-mortem examination.
The incident shines a spotlight on the safety of some rural structures built with ageing mud bricks.
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