Eight members of the same family, including two pregnant women and young children, died when a fire ravaged their home in the Guinean capital, witnesses and police have said.
The fire broke out in the early hours of yesterday, and the whole neighbourhood pitched in to try and save the inhabitants of the house in the northern suburb of Conakry.
"It was horrifying, we tried to call the fire department which didn't respond. The whole neighbourhood tried in vain to save the family," said a witness.
"The neighbours got together, we first broke the walls of the courtyard, then the house, but we could only save one young man," policeman Almamy Laye Soumah told AFP at the scene.
Two pregnant co-wives -- in a polygamous Muslim marriage -- and youngsters aged between five and 22 were killed, he said.
The women's husband was out of Guinea at the time of the fire.
Prime Minister Mohamed Said Fofana visited the scene of the tragedy.
