Baby, two children and two adults die after flat catches fire

Three children, one of them an infant, and two adults were killed when a flat caught alight in Cape Town in the early hours of Friday.

The city's fire and rescue service responded to smoke billowing from a flat in Nqabe Street, Joe Slovo Park in Milnerton, shortly after 1am. 

The flat was ablaze on the ground floor. Panicked residents told emergency services there were people trapped inside.

“The bodies of one adult male and a female, two minors and an infant were discovered inside the flat. A fourth child, a boy aged 14, sustained burn wounds to the head and was treated and transported to a hospital,” said fire and rescue spokesperson Jermaine Carelse. 

The fire was extinguished at 2am and police are now investigating the cause of the blaze.