Two boys have died in Mulanje District yesterday after being caught up in a raging fire.

According to Mulanje Police Public Relations Officer, Gresham Ngwira, the deceased are Manuel Thonje, 4 and Praise Fransa, 3, both from Nakuzale Village, Traditional Authority Mtombodiya in Mulanje District.

“Thokozani Thonje, father to the first deceased, said on the fateful time at around 10:00 hours the two and another friend were playing behind the house where there was a heap of grass. While there, they took matches and lit the grass. Later, one child ran away but the two, now deceased, hid on the other side of the grass where the fire burnt them,” he said.

He further said in the process, the house also caught fire and people managed to rescue some items, not knowing that the children were in the mound of grass where they got burnt to death.

They only realised after asking the other child about his friends’ whereabouts, to which he replied that they had hidden in the mound of grass.