A woman and her four-day-old baby died when their house in Springs on the east Rand caught fire in the early hours of Tuesday.
Before Moipone Ramasedi died, she apparently tried to save baby Naledi by passing her to neighbours through window burglar bars.
Ramasedi’s distraught uncle, Daniel, told Sowetan they received a call at 3am informing them that Ramasedi had died in a fire and Naledi was in hospital but badly injured.
“At this point, everything is still speculation, and that is why we want to give access to the police to know what happened. But what we do know is that we just got a call in the morning from the partner saying the house had burnt down, and my niece unfortunately did not make it. The baby was in the hospital but was not looking good,” he said.
“We went straight to Far East Hospital, and when we got there, we were met by the doctor, who took us through everything, and unfortunately, the baby also passed on as well.”
According to Daniel, Ramasedi had passed Naledi to neighbours through window burglar bars as flames and smoke spread through the home.
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He said the incident has left the family distraught, especially Ramasedi’s mother, who had to be admitted to hospital.
“What makes it even more difficult is that we had a ceremony planned for this Saturday to unveil our mother’s [Ramasedi’s grandmother’s] tombstone. The preparations were obviously derailed by this,” he said.
Ramasedi leaves behind a 12-year-old daughter who managed to escape the flames with minor injuries.
“We hope to get to the bottom of what really happened. The fact that she was able to try to take the baby out through the window tells us that maybe she could have come out as well. But obviously, she was weak and probably not strong enough to run out,” he said.
“We’re hoping that the police, especially forensic experts, will go deep into this to establish what caused the fire.”
Gauteng police spokesperson Capt Tintswalo Sibeko said an inquest docket has been opened.
Sowetan
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