Mhlaba Memela

Two toddlers both aged three narrowly escaped death when a runaway fire razed a number of shacks at an informal settlement in KwaZulu- Natal on Wednesday night.

Six families from the Flower informal settlement near Jacobs, south of Durban, spent the night without shelter after their homes and all their belongings had been burnt to ashes.

Firefighters said the children had been trapped in the flames and smoke while families ran for cover as the flames spread.

But a group of women banded together and saved the youngsters after finding them engulfed in thick smoke.

Eye-witness and shack dweller Thembela Malinga, from Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape, said he and his children were lucky to escape.

"The other two children disappeared in the smoke. But then the women got together and forced their way through to them and brought them out safely."

"We were very lucky that no one was hurt. But our belongings have been burnt to ashes," he said.

Net Care 911's Chris Botha said firemen battled for nearly an hour to bring the blaze under control.

"It was a phenomenal job by them. Paramedics counselled two distraught ladies because they had lost all of their belongings.

"We are not sure what started the fire," Botha said.