Durban house torched in blaze and twin toddlers die in shack fire in Boksburg

Two separate fire incidents destroyed a house in Durban while the other in Johannesburg claimed the lives of two 15-month-old toddlers this week.

Cottonlands

A rented house in Cottonlands was battered by fire on Thursday afternoon.

Members of Reaction Unit South Africa (Rusa) promptly responded to the scene after receiving multiple calls from residents.

Upon arrival, they found the house completely engulfed in flames.

Residents were assisted by Rusa officers to recover their belongings while awaiting the arrival of the Ethekwini Fire Department.

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Windmill Park

Meanwhile, a horrific blaze claimed the lives of two toddlers after a shack was engulfed in fire.

In the late hours of Wednesday, a woman witnessed the death of her two 15-month-old toddlers after their home caught on fire due to a lit candle during a power outage in Windmill Park, Boksburg.

According to the City of Ekurhleni, some parts of Windmill Park were affected by an outage caused by attempted cable theft last week.

This horrific scene occurred just after the mother of the twins stepped out to attend to some matters in the main house, leaving the candle unattended.

The shack then caught alight.

Residents of Windmill Park alerted the woman, who then had to witness her home and children battered by fire.

They tried to put off the fire with water buckets, but due to the magnitude of the flames, more assistance was needed.

Firefighters from the Vosloorus fire station responded to ample calls from the community and upon arrival, they found the backyard shack engulfed in flames; which they managed to extinguish.

“Search and rescue was conducted following information given and unfortunately, the charred bodies of the babies were identified within the remains of a shack. Both were declared dead on scene.

“As per information on scene the parent left a lit candle in the shack while she walked out to attend to other needs outside. The tragedy happened during a power failure within the whole Windmill Park,” Ekurhuleni Emergency Services spokesperson, William Ntladi told The South African.

Compiled by Lethabo Malatsi

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