Two minors amongst 6 people killed in two separate Cape fires

Six people, including two minors, died in two structural fires over the weekend.

In the first incident, in the early hours of Saturday, four persons died and four others sustained varying degrees of burn wounds when a fire broke out at a house in Vyeboom Street, Bonteheuwel.

The City’s Fire & Rescue Service’s spokesperson, Jermaine Carelse, said firefighters was alerted to the incident by CCTV operators at approximately 02:00.

‘’Crews from Epping who were first on scene were confronted by a house fully engulfed in flames and immediately started firefighting and search and rescue operations. At 02:15, firefighters found the bodies of 2 adult males and 2 adult females who had sustained fatal burn wounds. Four others, 3 adults and a minor, were taken to a nearby medical facility for treatment.’’

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Carelse said the fire was extinguished at about 03:30, where it was established that one formal dwelling was completely destroyed and two adjacent houses were partially damaged.

He says the cause of the fire is unknown and the scene was handed over to the South African Police Service.

In a seperate incident, and two minors sustained fatal burn wounds in a fire in Khayelitsha. Carelse said fire crews responded to the call at approximately 3a.m, of an informal structure burning in Dlavu Close near the Makhaza taxi rank.

‘’Firefighters from Khayelitsha managed to contain and extinguished the fire which destroyed a single structure. Sadly two minors, male and female, were declared deceased on scene.The cause of the fire is unknown pending an investigation by the South African Police Service,’’ said Jermaine Carelse, City of Cape town’s Fire & Rescue Service Spokesperson.

 

Done By: Esobusi Mkangelwa