Two Dead, Hundreds Homeless as Fires Ravage Cape Town, South Africa
Emergency Services Respond to Three Separate Incidents, One Blaze Consumes 150 Shacks, Displaces Hundreds in Mfuleni Settlement
Table of Contents (Show / Hide)
Two people died and almost 2,000 were left homeless when fires engulfed hundreds of shacks in three separate incidents in South Africa's Cape Town during the weekend, emergency services have said.
Two of the fires occurred on Saturday evening and one in the early hours of Sunday morning, they said.
"An adult male and female sustained fatal burn wounds and were declared deceased by medics" at one of the informal settlements, Cape Town's fire and rescue spokesperson Jermaine Carelse said in a statement.
The biggest fire which happened around 2:30 am on Sunday engulfed over 150 shacks leaving over 1,000 people displaced in the Mfuleni settlement, some 30 kilometres southeast of Cape Town.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, Carelse said.
Shack fires are common in South Africa and are a perennial threat to the impoverished residents of the sprawling informal settlements near major cities throughout the country.
According to the housing ministry as of 2022, 12.3 percent of people lived in shacks in South Africa.
Thirty years after the end of apartheid, land ownership and housing policy are still hotly dispute d issues in the country's politics and a key talking point in the upcoming May 29 polls.
South African Muslim charity Gift of the Givers told AFP it was bringing humanitarian aid to the homeless at all three locations, including hot meals and clean drinking water as well as blankets, mattresses and baby care products.
A handful of people were being treated for injuries, while one remained missing, the charity said, adding that community halls were being organised to house the displaced.
URL :
News ID : 3129
Loud sonic boom heard in vicinity of US capital
Why the Aussie accent is so hard to understand?
Melania Makes a Return to the Spotlight, Joins Trump at RNC
Mohamed bin Zayed's intensified pressure to oust his brother and appoint his son as crown prince
King Charles III delivered his 1st speech as monarch
Nakba 75: Palestinian citizens of Israel are exiles in their own land
What Happens to All the Dead Bodies in Major World Wars
10 Reasons to Start business in Dubai
Intensifying ethnic polarity in Israel reaches deadline of election campaign
Why Palestinians in Gaza have suffered for decades
