Two people killed after fire blazes through an informal settlement

Imogen Vollenhoven
2 December 2012

Two people were killed and 369 people were displaced when a fire swept through the New Rest informal settlement, in Nyanga, early this morning, the city of Cape Town said.

 Disaster management spokesman Wilfred Solomon Johannes said two were trapped in their shacks and could not escape the blaze.

They were declared dead on the scene.

Emergency trauma counselling had been provided to the families of those who died and to witnesses.

118 shacks were gutted in the New Rest Informal Settlement in Nyanga .

Disaster Risk Management's Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said 50 other people were displaced following fires at informal settlements in Muizenberg and the Strand.

He said the cause of all three fires will be investigated.The city’s response teams are assisting with the victims in Muizenberg, the Strand and Nyanga.

 He adds that at this stage it is still unclear how the fire started and an investigation is underway .

South African police service has opened a inquest into these incidences.

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