Leeudoringstad – All 54 learners who were admitted to hospital after a fire broke out at the North West Secondary School for the Deaf in Leeudoringstad near Wolmaranstad have been discharged, the North West Portfolio Committee on Education heard on Tuesday.
“All the 54 learners have been discharged from hospital last night (Monday),” said Ronell Schutte, circuit manager in Naledi.
Three pupils died in the blaze.
“The learners have been taken to other schools in Wolmaranstad. The boys have been taken to the Wolmaranstad Hoerskool and the girls are at Daeraad Special School.”
Three girls died on Monday when they were trapped in a room after a fire ripped through the girls hostel, while 54 others were admitted to hospital for smoke inhalation and injuries they sustained when they jumped from the first floor to the ground floor in a bid to escaped the raging fire.
Member of the legislature and chair of the committee, Boitumelo Moiloa, said the committee was going to meet with the department of education in an attempt to stop incidents of fire at school facilities in the province.
“This is the second incident to have occurred under their watch. The other incident happened in Christiana two years ago. We are going to meet with the head of department (HOD) and the MEC for education.”
The committee wanted to know what measures had been put in place, to which Schutte replied that the school had fire extinguishers which were working well and the water hose which was able to reach all sides of the school.
Abel and Martha Diseko, parents of Katlego Diseko,16, from Ramatlabama near Mahikeng were too emotional to speak. Katlego was one of the three pupils who died in the blaze.
Katlego was only admitted to the school this year.
ANA