Two people were killed in a blaze that ripped through several informal structures in Heinz Park.
The body of a man and woman were retrieved after the blaze had ripped through four shacks in the early hours of Tuesday 27 January.
Spokesperson Jermaine Carelse said the City’s Fire and Rescue Service was notified about the blaze in Roos Street, Heinz Park at 00:40. “Crews from Mitchells Plain, Gugulethu and Ottery Fire Stations were on the scene. By 02:00 firefighters managed to extinguish the blaze that had razed four structures and left 16 people displaced.”
Pictures and videos of the fire were circulated on social media. It showed neighbours trying to douse the fire with buckets of water and asking who lived in the shacks and whether they were safe.
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In one video a man says: “This is my sister’s house that is burning here and my auntie’s house.”
He breaks off to ask someone nearby about who lived in the other structures.
A man answers him, saying most of the people had escaped and at least one of the structures had been empty.
“There are just two people unaccounted for,” he replied in Afrikaans.
Later videos show Fire Services removing zinc plates and extinguishing the fire with hoses.
“Firefighters found the bodies of two adults under the debris, identified as a male and female,” Carelse said, adding no other injuries had been reported.
Thembakazi Mpendukana of the police’s provincial media centre said Philippi police were investigating the blaze.
She said the deceased were a 28-year-old man and 33-year-old woman.
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