Police are probing the cause of a fire which spread through the Masjid-e-Mukhtar mosque in Croftdene‚ Durban‚ following claims that the fire may have been deliberately started.

Officers cleared out the parking lot of the Chatsworth mosque‚ ordering all civilians away from what they called the scene of a crime.

Saleem Adam‚ of the Chatsworth Islamic Federation‚ was one of the first at the scene of the fire.

“The flames were so high [out of the doors and windows] and a taxi that was passing by saw it and stopped it. They called for help and they all rushed inside to help put the fire out‚” he said.

“The taxi driver said that he saw three people running from the back of the property and they jumped over the wall and fled. So we suspect that this was a deliberate act‚” Adam added.

He said that the taxi driver had given a statement to the police.

“The Moulana lives on the property but I had just been here for morning prayers and I was actually one of the last to leave‚” he said.

Adam estimated the damage to the structure to be over R250 000.