By MILDRED KATONGO  –
A FOUR-YEAR-OLD girl of Isoka District in Muchinga Province has accidentally been burnt to death by her friends while playing in a maize field with her friends.
Muchinga Police chief Auxensio Daka said the incident occurred on Tuesday around 18:00 hours when the deceased went to play in the maize field in the company of her two friends aged seven and nine.
Mr Daka said the trio were playing hide and seek in a maize field 25 kilometers away from their house when they set heaped dry stalks of maize on fire.
He said the other two children did not know that their friend had hidden in the heap and that she was burnt and died.
“We have a report of death by misadventure, where a four-year-old girl has been burnt to death in a maize field while playing with her friends. This was reported by her grandmother Juliet Nakanyinza of Mwaiseni village in Isoka.
The unfortunate incident occurred when the girls went to play in a field where they set heaped stalks of maize on fire,” he said.
Mr Daka said the body of the deceased was lying in Isoka district hospital mortuary.
In another development a 63 year-old woman of Isoka District has been shot dead by unknown people on suspicions that she was practicing witchcraft.
Nelo Nakamba died after unknown people broke into her kitchen and shot her dead using a homemade muzzle loader while she was preparing supper.
Mr Daka said the deceased sustained gunshot wounds in the chest and left thigh.
He said the incident happened on Tuesday around 19:00 hours.
Mr Daka said the body of the deceased was lying in Isoka District Hospital mortuary awaiting post mortem.