Johannesburg - Two children, aged nine and 14, died screaming in a shack fire in Vlakfontein near Lenasia that burnt their tiny home to the ground early on Sunday.
Driven by their heartbreaking cries, their father tried to storm into the shack but he was badly burnt and could not save them.
The blaze was apparently caused by a candle.
By the time neighbours arrived to help put the fire out, 14-year-old Siya and his nine-year-old sister Jabulile were dead. Their cousin, who was visiting from Orange Farm, survived.
The family moved into the area a month ago from Thembelihle informal settlement in Lenasia.
Neighbours said, while they had smelt smoke, no one realised Sipho Khumalo’s shack was on fire because there were no flames to be seen. Only when the fire started raging did everyone rush out to help. They found the gate locked and had to smash their way through to get into the yard.
Some people brought hoses to put out the flames, while others tried to break into the shack to get to the children inside.
Hans Motshoane, a neighbour, said he was fast asleep, then heard people banging. Thinking that it was his troublesome neighbour, he went back to sleep. Sometime later, he pulled open a curtain to find huge flames outside.
He rushed outside, connected his hose to the tap and tried to douse the flames.
The parents of the children trapped inside were among those gathered in the yard.
Motshoane said the mother was inconsolable from grief.
“I want my children. Go and find my children and husband and make sure they are okay. Call them by their names,” she kept repeating as her neighbours fought the flames.
Her badly burnt husband could not stop crying after his efforts failed.
It is not known how the couple managed to escape from the shack without the children.
However, one neighbour said Khumalo had tried to go back for them but was seriously burnt.
One of the children had been crying, “Mama, please help me.”
Khumalo nearly died himself because of the fire as he tried to get inside, said the neighbour.
“The poor mother cried until tears could not come out anymore. She was just crying without tears and there was a time when she appeared as if she was having a mini stroke.”
Khumalo’s landlord, Bheki Mchunu, said there had been a power cut on Saturday and the family had used a candle. A tired Khumalo had gone to bed and told the children to put it out before going to sleep. He was awakened by flames and smoke.
The Star