Cape Town - A Khayelitsha family has been left reeling in the aftermath of a shack fire which killed four children trapped inside.
The children, two of them just a year old, had been found dead at the doorway where they had desperately tried to open the door.
Lungiswa Vensile, the mother of two of the children, screamed as she recounted arriving at the shack in Khayelitsha's U Section to find it had been engulfed in flames.
Her children had been staying with her sister for the past two weeks as she worked to support her extended family.
"I am just so sad," she said, her voice hoarse and tears spilling down her cheeks.
The other two children were three and six.
Police said the fire had started at around 8pm, They were investigating the cause.
Neighbours said they had stepped outside to see a tower of flames looming over their homes as the fire engulfed a double-storey shack on the property.