Midrand fire victim found by sibling in debris

The woman who died in the fire that broke out at a Midrand apartment building was an avid boxer who was supposed to have gone to Limpopo for a boxing tournament on the day her remains were found under a collapsed ceiling in her flat.

Onalenna Tsae’s body was discovered by her sister who had to plead with the Johannesburg Emergency Management Services (EMS) to be allowed to get into the gutted building to look for her younger sibling as she had been unaccounted for long after the fire had been put out.

Matlhogonolo Tsae, 37, said as she walked towards the flat not knowing what awaited her, she kept making up scenarios in her head that placed her sister anywhere but the flat –  at the hospital, with friends, or just somewhere else.

However, when they got into the flat, her sister – who would have been 33 years old in December – was  found dead under the debris of the ceiling, closer to the door.

"It shows that this was someone that was running to go out. It is sad. We wanted her alive. I kept believing that maybe, just maybe, she will call,” she said.

The cause of the fire is not yet known and police have opened an inquest case.

Matlhogonolo believes her sister died of smoke inhalation and that the ceiling falling on her may have had an impact too. However, she said she was not an expert and would have to wait for the autopsy report.

It is believed that the fire at Broadwalk Urban Village broke out at around 8.30pm on Tuesday. 

According to Matlhogonolo, Onalenna stayed with her partner and their 13-month-old baby boy.

She said at the time of the fire, the baby was with Onalenna’s brother and the boyfriend had not been at the house for the whole weekend.

The last time she spoke to Onalenna was around 8pm when she told her about the trip to Limpopo for a boxing tournament. She was deputy secretary of the SA National Open Boxing Association.

Just after midnight, Matlhogonolo received a call from Onalenna’s friend, who told her about the fire.

She said as she made her way to the building, she kept calling Onalenna’s phone but it went unanswered.

After the fire had been put out, Matlhogonolo said she told police and emergency officials that her sister was unaccounted for. “I kept saying, 'my sister is unaccounted for and she’s not calling'. I then asked one emergency services guy to go and look for her to satisfy myself."

She said one of the emergency personnel acceded to her plea and she was taken to an apartment where it was claimed the fire started.

“I told them that’s not where my sister lives. They said, 'we were told that this is where the fire started and we searched twice'. I said 'no, you searched the wrong apartment' and I took them to where my sister lived."

EMS spokesperson Xolile Khumalo on Tuesday said the fire started in the apartment where the body of a woman was found.

Neighbours told Sowetan that the couple that lived in the apartment where inferno began were heard fighting days before the blaze

However, Matlhogonolo said she did not believe the fire started in Onalenna's flat because her body had not been burnt and neither were her appliances, except the fridge which was only burnt on the outside.

"I’m not an expert but I don’t believe the fire started in her room. If it had, it could have killed her but she was not burnt to ashes, she was recognisable."

There have been claims that Onalenna and her partner were heard arguing days before the fire started.

Matlhogonolo said she would not entertain talks of her sister having argued with her boyfriend days before the fire because it was "nonsense and sending a wrong message".

She said the boyfriend was finding her sister's death difficult and was also trying to come to terms with it.

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