TRAGIC: Five kids perish in shanty fire while mums ‘visit tavern’

Authorities detained two sisters for questioning after a tragic incident where their five children, who were supposedly left unattended overnight, suffered severe burns in a shack fire near Laudium, Pretoria.

At 4:26 am, emergency services in Tshwane were alerted about the blaze that engulfed six shacks in the Itireleng settlement, as reported by Times Live. Five children tragically lost their lives in the shack fire, allegedly left overnight by their mothers in the very shack where the fire occurred.

Firefighters swiftly arrived at the scene and began combating the flames that had consumed several shacks. After successfully extinguishing the fire, they discovered the charred remains of five children, comprising two boys aged two, four, and six, and two girls, aged one and five months, and seven.

These children were the offspring of two sisters, as confirmed by Thabo Mabaso, a spokesperson for Tshwane emergency services. The authorities apprehended the two sisters on suspicion of abandoning their children alone in the shack overnight while they visited a nearby bar. The sisters were taken into police custody for questioning in connection with the incident.

Mabaso highlighted that an ongoing investigation aims to establish the cause of the fire. He underscored the critical importance of parents and caregivers ensuring constant adult supervision of children in a secure environment.

In a separate incident earlier in the week, a mother from Limpopo was arrested following the passing of her 10-month-old daughter, pending the outcome of a postmortem examination. Colonel Malesela Ledwaba, a police spokesperson, revealed that the infant was found buried in a shallow trench within her Giyani residence. Upon suspicions from community members, the police were alerted, and they subsequently located the woman. Ledwaba explained, “She was taken to her house, where she pointed out a shallow grave in which she buried her daughter.” The mother informed the police that her disabled daughter had succumbed to illness and that she had performed the burial alone due to the absence of a birth certificate.