A third-year student has died after he sustained first- and second-degree burns to at least 90% of his body when his flat caught alight at the weekend. It is alleged that the flat caught alight during Friday night’s storm.
Speaking to IOL, dRKEMS spokesperson, Cait Hagerman said they attended a call-out for a flat on fire on Saturday.
Mpumezi Mndwetywa was a third-year student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT).
She said the student was asleep in his bed when the incident occurred. He managed to get out of the flat.
"The patient said he woke up in pain and realised his bed was on fire. We are not sure how he managed to get out of the flat, but when we arrived, we found him on the ground floor, in the courtyard. We assessed the 27-year-old male and found that he sustained first and second-degree burns to 95% of his body," she said.
Once stabilised at the scene by advanced life paramedics, Mndwetywa was rushed to a nearby hospital for urgent care.
In a statement on Monday, MUT confirmed that Friday's storm resulted in a fire affecting some of the rooms on the third floor of Craiglee, an external university residence in Glenwood.
“We pray that his soul rests in peace," said MUT's Dr Thembi Kweyama.
Kweyama added that student counselling will issue notices in due course regarding counselling services that will be available for all those students affected by this tragedy.
IOL