Cape Town - A six-year-old boy burnt to death after the shack in which he lived with his parents was destroyed by a fire on Sunday, in one of four fires over the weekend.
Siyasanga Afeni Dyantyi was asleep when a fire swept through the shack in the Kosovo informal settlement in Philippi.
His mother Nothando Dyantyi had gone to throw water away into a nearby drain when the fire broke out.
A distraught Mika Hamukwaya, Siyasanga’s father, said he had left early for work and later received a call from a friend to tell him his house was on fire.
“I couldn’t believe it. We don’t even know how the fire started,” Hamukwaya said.
Siyasanga suffered from epilepsy and was asleep when the fire tore through their small shack at about 8am.
His tiny body was found on his bed. He died after suffering serious burns.
“When I got home at about 9am the paramedics were still here and they showed me his body.
“I didn’t look for a long time, it’s not nice to see you child like that,” Hamukwaya said. He said his family hadbeen living in the informal settlement for eight years. Neighbours tried to get into the shack to get the boy out but were unable to.
Neighbour Xoliswa Busani said there was too much smoke when they had tried to get in.
“We just heard screams from outside that there was a fire. “When I went out to look there was just black smoke everywhere and nobody could get in. “By the time the fire brigade came the fire was already out,” Busani said.
Siyasanga was the only fatality reported in the weekend fires. Several people were however displaced after they lost their homes to fires. A fire in the Fisantekraal informal settlement in Durbanville left four people homeless while eight people were displaced after two shacks were destroyed in Khayelitsha.
The City’s disaster risk spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said the causes of the fires were unknown.
The city’s disaster response teams were on hand and assisted the victims by providing them with food parcels, blankets, clothing and fire kits.
Cape Argus