Man dies in a cloud of smoke
As dusk came and all feet trod towards each ones sleeping place, little did a man know that the walk home, a drink and the meal he never had would be his last as lay his head down to rest, lighting a fag and having a last drag of the night.
Mr Sydney Mahlangu had the last of everything on February 17 before he put his head down to rest. According to his sister, Phillistus Mahlangu, she said he came in early that night and stayed behind closed doors in his room. “I went out at about 21:00 to give him his food as he had not come to eat dinner with me, after that I went to bed after ensuring that the gates and doors are all locked,” said his sister.
Upon waking up in the morning she said that she went to wake her brother up but as soon as she opened the door she noticed that his curtains were not on the windows. She was puzzled by that discovery and decided to go and investigate why there are no curtains and she could not see through the window. “I knocked and knocked but he did not open and that when I tried to force the door open, something was in its way preventing me from opening it,” she added. After some more struggle Ms Mahlangu said she eventually managed to open the door and to her surprise there lay her brother on the floor, dead.
It is alleged that a cigarette might have started the fire which did not turn into flames but was instead like acid eating at flesh. The bed where Mr Mahlangu used to sleep was burned to char. It seemed also that he woke up at some point during the heat of the bed and tried to get out of the room, but as it is unknown after how long and how much smoke he had inhaled he collapsed at the door and that was his final breath taken at that moment.
Mr Sydney Mahlangu was 68-years-old, he lived with his sister and leaves her behind as well as his son, Sydwell Mahlangu. No funeral arrangements were available by the time of going to print.
