Monday, September 13, 2010

Man dies as fire engulfs shack

A Strand man has died in one of a spate of shack blazes - making it the second weekend in succession in which people have died in Cape Town fires.

It was the third of the fires that broke out early on Sunday, leaving more than 100 people homeless.

On Sunday night, police had yet to identify the man who died.

In the first of the blazes, in Lusaka, Nyanga, a fire broke out in a shack and spread, destroying 19 other homes.

Firefighters had been called out to Muller Street, Lusaka, where the shack was burning, said Theo Layne, spokesman for the city's fire and rescue services.

"The fire spread rapidly, destroying about 20 structures and leaving about 100 persons displaced, but fortunately no (one was) injured," Layne said.

Gladstone Ntamo, the ward councillor, said he had received a phone call about the fire soon after it had been put out. When he arrived, residents said a drunk resident who had been cooking had been responsible for the fire.

Layne, however, said the cause of the fire had yet to be established.

Later, firefighters were called out to the Dagbreek informal settlement in Westridge, Mitchells Plain, where a number of shacks were burning.

A resident of the settlement received third-degree burns.

"He was treated at the scene and then taken to hospital by ambulance," Layne said.

The fire in which the man died in Pholile Park, Strand, broke out minutes after the second. It destroyed two shacks, leaving eight people homeless.

Layne said a second man received second-degree burns to an arm. He was taken to hospital.

Last weekend, there were at least five fires in the city and 10 people died.


This article was originally published on page 1 of The Cape Times

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