A horrifying fire incident, suspected to have been orchestrated by a husband, has claimed the lives of his wife and six children at Akyempim in the Upper Denkyira East municipality of the Central Region.

The victims, according to the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), included five children aged between one and 15 years, their mother, and the eldest daughter.

Preliminary investigations by the GNFS suggest that the husband of the deceased woman intentionally started the fire in one of the bedrooms where his family was sleeping. 

He is suspected of having locked the door from the outside before fleeing the scene.

The suspect later reportedly took his own life in a nearby bush, where police later discovered his body hanging from a tree.

A statement issued by the Fire Service said the tragic incident occurred in the early hours of Saturday, November 1, 2025.

The Central Regional Public Relations Officer of the GNFS, DO II Abdul Wasiu Hudu, who signed the statement, explained that the Dunkwa-On-Offin fire station received a distress call at 1:04 a.m. on Saturday and dispatched a team to the scene.

He said firefighters arrived at 1:20 a.m. to find one of the bedrooms of the four-bedroom house, numbered AA/5259/7534, engulfed in flames and padlocked from the outside.

Despite their swift response, he said the seven trapped occupants could not be rescued.

The fire crew, he indicated, managed to contain the blaze by 1:32 a.m., preventing it from spreading to the other rooms.

DOII Hudu said the charred bodies of the victims were later handed over to the police at Atekyim for further investigation.

DO II Hudu described the incident as “deeply tragic.”