Eastern Cape - As the flames engulfing his home home grew higher, a 10-year-old boy inside pounded against the windows in a vain bid to save his life and that of his two siblings.
The children’s mother and neighbours watched in horror as the shack burned down, killing Michaela Jones, Shahida Mohammed, six, and two-year-old Abubukar Mohammed.
“It was like hell,” said neighbour Heather Wagenaar. “The mother wasn’t able to stop the fire. She was going mad.”
It was just past midnight yesterday when Wagenaar, 18, heard an explosion “like a petrol bomb” from the home across the street. Wagenaar, her aunt and mother rushed out the street to see a fire destroying the home of Portia Mohammed and her three children.
Mohammed was outside the shack when the fire broke out.
Firefighters were at the scene quickly and with neighbours they worked desperately to put out the fire. They threw sand and water at the flames but the shack remained ablaze.
Where there was once a family of four, there remained a grief-stricken mother and the charred remains of a small tin shack. Scorched laundry, still on a line, lay in a tangled heap. Two dogs poked around.
The family had moved to Kabega Crescent in Wesbank only last year, neighbours said.
The deaths of the children bring to five the number of fire deaths in Cape Town since Friday, said Wilfred Solomons, of Disaster and Risk Management.
In Hout Bay 30 shacks caught fire at 4.45am yesterday at Imizamo Yethu leaving 100 people homeless. One adult burned to death, the body so badly damaged that police could not determine the gender, Solomons said.
In Palele Park, another body also was burned beyond recognition after a shack caught fire at 4am.
There were also fires in Bonteheuwel, Khayelitsha and Mfuleni. In those areas, 16 people were left homeless.
The cause for the Wesbank fire has not yet been determined, Solomons said, but police have opened an inquest.
Neighbour Malusi Mkhankamyeli woke up about 1am, thinking he could hear children throwing rocks at his shack.
“The air smelled like burning electric wires,” said Mkhankamyeli, 33. “There were a lot of people trying to use a hose pipe to put out the fire.”
Police are guarding the Wesbank scene until forensic experts arrived from Port Elizabeth, police said.
The mother of the three Wesbank children has since gone to a relative’s home in Athlone and buried her two youngest children, Solomons said. Her first child, Michaela, is in a mortuary. Cape Argus
The children’s mother and neighbours watched in horror as the shack burned down, killing Michaela Jones, Shahida Mohammed, six, and two-year-old Abubukar Mohammed.
“It was like hell,” said neighbour Heather Wagenaar. “The mother wasn’t able to stop the fire. She was going mad.”
It was just past midnight yesterday when Wagenaar, 18, heard an explosion “like a petrol bomb” from the home across the street. Wagenaar, her aunt and mother rushed out the street to see a fire destroying the home of Portia Mohammed and her three children.
Mohammed was outside the shack when the fire broke out.
Firefighters were at the scene quickly and with neighbours they worked desperately to put out the fire. They threw sand and water at the flames but the shack remained ablaze.
Where there was once a family of four, there remained a grief-stricken mother and the charred remains of a small tin shack. Scorched laundry, still on a line, lay in a tangled heap. Two dogs poked around.
The family had moved to Kabega Crescent in Wesbank only last year, neighbours said.
The deaths of the children bring to five the number of fire deaths in Cape Town since Friday, said Wilfred Solomons, of Disaster and Risk Management.
In Hout Bay 30 shacks caught fire at 4.45am yesterday at Imizamo Yethu leaving 100 people homeless. One adult burned to death, the body so badly damaged that police could not determine the gender, Solomons said.
In Palele Park, another body also was burned beyond recognition after a shack caught fire at 4am.
There were also fires in Bonteheuwel, Khayelitsha and Mfuleni. In those areas, 16 people were left homeless.
The cause for the Wesbank fire has not yet been determined, Solomons said, but police have opened an inquest.
Neighbour Malusi Mkhankamyeli woke up about 1am, thinking he could hear children throwing rocks at his shack.
“The air smelled like burning electric wires,” said Mkhankamyeli, 33. “There were a lot of people trying to use a hose pipe to put out the fire.”
Police are guarding the Wesbank scene until forensic experts arrived from Port Elizabeth, police said.
The mother of the three Wesbank children has since gone to a relative’s home in Athlone and buried her two youngest children, Solomons said. Her first child, Michaela, is in a mortuary. Cape Argus
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