4 days ago
2 killed as deadly fire rips through Durban informal settlement
A devastating fire tore through Durban's Kennedy Road informal settlement in the early hours of Saturday, claiming the lives of a woman in her 30s and a one-year-old baby.
The Witness reports that the deadly blaze comes barely a month after another inferno destroyed 40 shacks in the same settlement.
At this stage, the cause of the fire that destroyed over 100 shacks remains unknown.
Resident and community leader Vusi Doncabe said he was woken up by the noise from the neighbours and when he walked out to check what was happening, the fire was too close to his own shack to save his belongings.
'I'm left with nothing. I could not throw out any of my belongings because the fire was too close to my shack when I woke up,' said Doncabe.
I was in a state of panic and in fact everyone was in that state because the fire was uncontrollable. When the fire fighters and emergency services arrived, the blaze had done the damage.
He said the one-year-old baby belonged to another woman who had left her in the care of the friend for the night.
'People are saying the baby was left with the friend who died in the same shack they were sleeping in. It is not clear where the baby's mother was,' he said.
Relief organisation, Gift of the Givers said they had responded and provided assistance to the affected residents.
Community liaison officer Bilaal Jeewa said about 120 people, including children were left homeless. He said in the interim they provided the victims with beanies and blankets, and meals will be provided.
'The eThekwini disaster management is doing the assessment, and once all is done, we will see what further assistance we can provide for the affected families. Obviously other NGOs will also lend a hand to assist the affected.'
'We estimate about 80 to 100 shacks have burnt down. Thus far, we have provided the people with teabags, bread, peanut butter, the beanies etc, because it was cold. It was raining but now it's cold,' said Jeewa.
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