'They burnt completely': Six family members, including toddlers, perish in Ekurhuleni shack fire
Six family members, including toddlers and parents have died in an intense shack fire at Marikana informal settlement in Ekurhuleni.
Image: City of Ekurhuleni
Six family members have perished in an inferno in Ekurhuleni, as fire consumed their shack at the Marikana informal settlement.
On Monday morning, City of Ekurhuleni Disaster and Emergency Management Services spokesperson William Ntladi said only one family member survived the blaze.
“The home of seven family members was destroyed by fire, all of them trapped inside while sleeping overnight, and only one escaped with critical burn wounds,” said Ntladi.
Emergency services from the City of Ekurhuleni swiftly responded to the Marikana informal settlement after receiving a distress call at around 3am on Monday.
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When the emergency personnel arrived, a four-roomed shack was engulfed by flames. Members of the community were frantically battling the blaze.
Six family members, including toddlers and parents have died in an intense shack fire at Marikana informal settlement in Ekurhuleni.
Image: City of Ekurhuleni
“Firefighters extinguished the blaze. However, on search, rescue, and recovery, all six were found to have burnt intensively, and only one survived with critical burns,” said Ntladi.
The sole survivor, a girl around seven years of age, was transported to the nearest hospital for further medical treatment.
Ntladi said the rest of the family members, six of them, were declared dead on scene.
“The cause of the fire is undetermined. Police are on scene for scene rehabilitation and removal of the bodies to a pathological facility,” said Ntladi.
Speaking to broadcaster Newzroom Afrika, Ntladi said neighbours have reported that the family members were asleep when the fire started.
"It is gruesome. They were burnt beyond recognition. Their charred bodies are still there on the scene. It is intense burns, one cannot recognise what is happening. Small remains of their bodies are still on the scene. It is difficult for us to identify who is who. Only one or two of them can be identified by the families," he said.
Names and ages of all the people who were in the shack have been provided to the City of Ekurhuleni Disaster and Emergency Management Services.
"We do have two toddlers, one was one-and-half years old and the other one was four-years-old. All of them, they burnt completely. There were girl children aged 12 and 20 years who are also burnt beyond recognition. The mother aged 42 and the father aged 47 - all of them have been burnt beyond recognition," said Ntladi.
He said the process to remove the bodies will be complex.
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