Shack fire kills five children - two boys escape from blaze

House NO 8578 was turned into a house of grief when residents of Orange Farm, south of Johannesburg, gathered in large numbers to mourn the loss of five young relatives.

The Magagula children - Lillian, 17, Busisiwe, 8, Tshepo, 7, Nkululeko, 6 and Mduduzi, 4 - died when the shack they were sleeping in was engulfed in flames on Sunday night.

Two other Magagula boys, Siphiwe, 14, and Gift 10, managed to escape from the fire and woke their grandfather Simon Maponya in the main house.

Young and old residents gathered in and outside the yard after the tragedy to comfort the grieving family.

Firefighters, two police officers and a group of neighbours took more than two hours to bring the blaze under control.

The burnt bodies of Lillian, Busisiwe, Tshepo and Nkululeko, who were all orphans, were found lying next to each other. Mduduzi's body was in the other room which he shared with his mother, Nthabiseng Magagula, 27.

The mother was not present when the fire started. She said she returned home a few minutes after being phoned about the incident.

Burnt pieces of corrugated iron sheets lay in front of the four-room house. Burnt-out corrugated iron sheets were also at the back where the shack once was.

"What sin have I committed? Who is punishing me? Why did they die like this?" asked Maponya.

He said his grandchildren left to sleep in their shack around 10pm as usual. Later during the night he heard two of them screaming outside the kitchen door.

"I quickly grabbed my knobkerrie, thinking my grandchildren were being attacked by thieves," he said.

As he opened the door he was met by a huge ball of fire approaching the kitchen door.

"Siphiwe and Gift kept on screaming that the other children were trapped inside the burning shack. I then heard them crying that they were burning and I must save them."

But the fire was too strong.

"I screamed for help from my neighbours and a few minutes later two police officers who were patrolling arrived and assisted me.

"Neighbours poured buckets of water onto the raging fire until firefighters in two fire engines arrived and we all battled the fire until it was contained. When the fire was over, all five of them were dead and they were badly burnt," Maponya said.

City of Johannesburg emergency services spokesman Robert Mulaudzi said they received the call about a shack fire around 11.30pm and quickly responded. He said it seemed that the children died from smoke inhalation.

ntwagaes@sowetan.co.za