Residents from Langa, Joe Slovo informal settlement are shocked after three people died in a shack fire on Sunday early in the morning.
According to residents, the deceased is a sangoma who was having fun with his two friends on Saturday night.
A neighbour said they woke up to screams from the people inside the shack. People also shouted and called people to come out of their shacks.
Residents woke up and demolished nearby shacks so the fire couldn’t spread to other areas. Residents then fought the fire with buckets while waiting for firefighters to arrive.
When firefighters took over, they found three bodies inside the shack.
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City Fire & Rescue Service spokesman Jermaine Carelse confirmed the incident. “Three persons died in an early morning fire in Langa on Sunday 27 November. The City’s Fire and Rescue Service was alerted at about 01:15 of a structure on fire just off Mshumpela Way,” said Carelse.
He added that crews that responded to the incident came from Epping and Goodwood. “Firefighters found the bodies of a man and two women who had sustained fatal burn wounds, amongst the debris. The cause of the fire is unknown and the scene was handed over to the South African Police Service after it was declared safe,” he said.