Three children died in New Brighton shack fire on Monday. Photo: Pixabay
Fire: Five-year-old boy, 10-month-old baby die in Free State shack fire
A fire broke out at 23:00 while a family of five was asleep in the Free State. Unfortunately, two young children died in the blaze.
Three children died in New Brighton shack fire on Monday. Photo: Pixabay
The police in the Free State have opened an inquest docket after two young children died in a fire on Thursday night, 7 October. Four family members were asleep inside the house when the blaze broke out.
POLICE OPEN INQUEST DOCKET AFTER CHILDREN DIE IN FIRE
South African Police Service (SAPS) spokesperson Brigadier Motantsi Makhele said the police were summoned to a scene where a shack was on ablaze at 23:00 on Thursday. When the authorities arrived, they found members of the community trying to extinguish the blaze.
“On arrival at the scene, there were members of the community who were trying to extinguish the fire with water buckets and Police assisted further with fire extinguishers,” said Makhele.
“Once the fire was extinguished, it was discovered that two lifeless bodies burnt inside and were identified by their parents.”
The deceased children were a five-year-old boy and a 10-month-old baby. They were found with burn wounds in the house and declared dead at the scene by paramedics.
The father and a 15-year-old daughter managed to escape the house unharmed while the mother was transported to a hospital for further medical treatment.
“At this stage, it is not clear what caused the fire and this will form part of the investigation. The experts will visit the scene today [Friday] to try and establish the cause of the fire that caused the loss of young lives,” said the police spokesperson.
