THICK clouds of smoke filled the road as Eddie Mayanda commuted to work on Sunday, April 24. The South Beach resident was travelling in a taxi along King Dinizulu Road toward the Clermont taxi rank in central Durban when a fire broke out at a nearby building, causing the taxi driver to turn back.
ALSO READ: Musgrave mother shares her ordeal after house fire
“There was a lot of smoke over the road and the taxi couldn’t go through. I had to jump off the taxi on King DiniZulu Road,” recalled Mayanda.
He said the fire broke out just before 10am at a Warwick Junction store.
“I could hear explosions coming from the fire. There were a lot of flames and smoke. I think everything in the store was burnt up,” said Mayanda.
Division Commander for the eThekwini Fire Department, Nkulumo Dube said firefighters arrived on the scene within minutes.
“It took us around 15 minutes to get the fire under control. The fire had already gone through the roof but we confined the fire in the shop of origin. It was reported by the manager that the fire started behind on one of the fridges. The suspected cause of the fire is an electrical fault from one of the fridges,” he said.
No injuries were reported at the scene.
“The fire broke out at Jwayelani Store and Cambridge Food – the shops are housed together,” he said.
This adds to a spate of recent fires in the Durban CBD. A building on Dr Yusuf Dadoo Street (Grey Street) went up in flames on Saturday, February 12 following another fire on Denis Hurley Street (Queen Street) on February 10. Three weeks prior, 13 people were injured after a fire ripped through China Mall on Dr Pixley KaSame Street.
ALSO READ: Another Durban building catches fire
A Musgrave home on Windmill Road also burnt down on Sunday, March 27.
Mayanda was on his way to work in Clermont when he took this video of the fire. Facebook page, Dala U Crew shared the clip.
Watch here –
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=977023429658957&ref=sharing&_rdc=1&_rdr
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