Residents from Samora Machel are shocked after a 28-year-old man and a woman died in a shack fire on Sunday in Kosovo area on Sunday 11 September early in the morning.
According to residents, the man had brought a girl home from a night out and slept in the shack. It was early in the morning when residents heard some screaming which was followed by flames and smoke.
A resident who did not want to be named said the girlfriend of the deceased man said she told her that people were shocked to see her walking around. “When people say her boyfriend had died with a woman, many people thought it was her. It was later found out that the girl who died is another girl she came from the tavern with the previous night,” said the resident.
Residents also told the Ezitshisayo that the deceased man was temporarily staying at the shack where he and his girlfriend died. The owner of the shack was in the Eastern Cape on leave.
A neighbour said she was awakened by the voice of a screaming woman. At first, she thought the screaming was coming from downstairs where her sick father-in-law was sleeping.
“I found out it was coming from my neighbour’s shack, and it was on fire. My house was also getting full of smoke, so I asked my father-in-law to go out as I fetched the kids from upstairs. As soon as we went out the top part of mkhukhu caught fire. It all happened very fast,” she added.
Resident Mzukisi Maphukatha(45) said they tried to break the door to save the two but they were unsuccessful.
“The screaming went down as we were still breaking the door and the person stopped screaming and we knew she may have died.
“We heard the screams of only one person, a woman but when the fire was extinguished, the bodies of two people were found. The man was not screaming when the fire was on,” said Maphukatha.
The family of the deceased man said they were still traumatised and wouldn’t want to speak to the media. The home of the deceased woman was still unknown, but she is apparently from Kosovo but in another area called Leeds.
Cops spokesman Sergeant Wesley Twigg confirmed the incident: “Samora Machel police opened an inquest after the bodies of an adult male and an adult female were discovered following a fire which occurred at Kosovo informal settlement Sunday morning at about 06:00.”
Fire and Rescue spokesman Jermaine Carelse said the bodies of a man and woman were discovered amongst the debris.
“The fire was extinguished at 05:30 and the cause of the fire is unknown. The scene was handed over to the South African Police Service,” said Carelse.