Two fires in Cape Town claim six lives

Six people died in two separate fires in Cape Town on Friday night.

City of Cape Town spokesperson Jermaine Carelse said four people died in Bonteheuwel and four others sustained varying degrees of burn wounds when a fire broke out at a house in Vyeboom Street.

“The city’s fire & rescue service was alerted to the incident by CCTV operators at about 2am.

“Crews from Epping who were first on scene were confronted by a house fully engulfed in flames and immediately started firefighting and search and rescue operations,” he said.

Firefighters found the bodies of two men and two women who had sustained fatal burn wounds.

“Four others — three adults and a minor — were taken to a nearby medical facility for treatment.”

The fire was extinguished at about 3.30am, Carelse said.

“One formal dwelling was completely destroyed and two adjacent houses were partially damaged.”

The cause of the fire is still unknown and the scene was handed over to the South African Police Service.

In Khayelitsha, two minors sustained fatal burn wounds in a fire.

“The fire & rescue service was alerted at about 3am of an informal structure burning in Dlavu Close near the Makhaza taxi rank,” Carelse said.

Firefighters from Khayelitsha managed to contain and extinguish the fire which destroyed a single structure.

“Sadly two minors, male and female, were declared deceased on the scene. The cause of the fire is unknown pending an investigation by the SAPS.”

TimesLIVE