The chain on the door which Cape Town resident Sivuyile Maglasana used to keep himself safe in his shack, cost him his life early on Monday.
Neighbours struggled in vain to loosen it to free him from an inferno when his Dunoon home caught fire.
His best friend Siyabonga Kepata was desperate to save him, but couldn’t get past the door, and landed in a city hospital on Monday with severe burns.
“I was sleeping next door when I heard people screaming that there was a fire. I jumped up and when I went to see, the fire was so hot.
“I ran around his shack to try and see what I could do to get him out but there was so much smoke,” said Kepata, 22, pointing to the charred shack in their front yard.
He sustained burn wounds on both of his forearms and both of his feet and had been treated and discharged from Somerset Hospital.
Neighbours of 27-year-old Maglasana said they heard noises early on Monday but, by the time they ran out, it was too late to save him.
Disaster Risk Management’s Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said fire and disaster services had responded to the incident at 3.15am on Monday and that Maglasana was declared dead on arrival.
“Police are investigating the incident as the cause of the fire has not been determined.”
Kepata was distraught during an interview with the Cape Times.
“He was like a brother to me. We used to do everything together because we both come from King William’s Town in the Eastern Cape and met here,” he said.
“One of the neighbours gave me a hosepipe and I started putting the fire out. People came to help, so I tried again to knock open the side and that’s when I saw him. His face was already so burned. I couldn’t believe it, I’m still shocked,” he said.
Several residents were standing around the charred wooden structure, where Maglasana had burned to death.
“We heard a funny noise, as if people were fighting outside – screams and banging. When I ran outside to go and see what was happening, all we saw was fire,” said a neighbour, Cynthia Noluthando Ludziya.
“He (Kepata) tried to kick the door down, but it was chained closed from the inside. He went around to the side of the shack, then something fell on his feet and burnt him.
“The neighbours used buckets of water and hosepipes to try and put the fire out but by then we knew he was gone,” Ludziya said.
“Two of his sisters came to fetch his clothes soon after the fire happened and they were crying so much. It was really sad to see something like that.
“He lived in the yard for the past three years. He was a very soft-spoken guy,” she said.
Ludziya said several neighbours had chosen not to go to work yesterday, as they were kept awake until the early hours of the morning.
“We were all awake late and haven’t slept yet.” - Cape Times
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