A family from Butler Road in Edelweiss escaped their burning home after a driver who accidentally turned onto their road saw the flames and stopped to assist on May 21.
Cornelius Oelfse, who lives with his fiancée Hendrietta Strydom, says they heard voices calling, is there anybody inside, from outside their yard while trapped in the bathroom.
Cornelius says they closed themselves in the bathroom after waking up to the house full of smoke.
“When I woke up, the first person I could think of was my fiancée next to me. I remember trying to wake her up, but I noticed she was a little dazed from smoke inhalation,” said Cornelius.
“We could not find the house keys to escape the fire. Hendrietta suggested we go to the bathroom since it seemed to be the only room to have less smoke,” he said.
Cornelius adds they broke the window and started screaming for help when they suddenly heard and saw a man coming from the back of the house. He identified himself only as Willem.
“Willem, followed by his wife, tried to break the window frame, which was difficult but eventually able to break.”
“We had to get out of the bathroom window to escape. After a few minutes, the firefighters arrived to extinguish the fire,” he adds.
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Cornelius said it was a miracle that Willem was in the area to help them get out of the house.
“Willem told us they never use our road when travelling to church but somehow passed by that day.
“If it wasn’t for them, I don’t think we would still be alive,” he said.
Hendrietta and Cornelius thanked the Edelweiss community for their generous donations and help in restructuring some parts of their house.
