The family of three children who died tragically in Endlovini is desperately seeking help in burying them.
Inako Mbema (13), Qhamisa Mbema (8) and Akhanyile Magamle (4) all perished in a shack fire on Wednesday 30 November.
Enzokuhle Magamle (6) was seriously injured and taken to Red Cross Children’s Hospital in Rondebosch.
At least 17 other family members were left homeless by the inferno.
The family, including children and grandchildren, shared a three-bedroom shack and is now not only struggling to bury the deceased, but to also sort out their lives.
The cause of the fire is still unknown. Since the horrific incident the family has been scrambling to raise funds for the trio’s burial.
Family spokesperson Noluvuyo Dunga stated the mother of the deceased has survived by selling scrap and through the children’s grant, and can never afford the burial costs.
“We are asking anyone who can assist us to help us bury our siblings, not necessarily with money,” she said.
“It can be anything or grocery. We lost everything in the fire including our clothes, fridge, blankets, and so on.
“We are left only with the clothes we are wearing.”
According to Dunga, the fire started in the morning and everyone was woken by the flames.
“The fire started about 01:00 in one of the rooms where the deceased were sleeping. They were sleeping with their aunt. They were woken by big flames in their room.
The aunt and Inako [one of the deceased] with the rest of the people who were sleeping in other rooms managed to escape, but left the children inside.”
She said Inako was already outside the burning shack, but went back in to save his siblings after noticing they were still in there.
“There were 19 people inside the shack when the fire broke out. Only one family member was away. We managed to save one child after we pulled her out through a window, but she was badly burnt.”
But Qhamisa and Akhanyile, who slept in a corner of the burning room, didn’t make it.
Their charred bodies were found by emergency personnel after putting the fire out.
Inako’s body was found in the dining room just before the main to the shack door.
Dunga said the flames were strong and big. They covered the whole shack and quickly destroyed everything.
She said the family’s wish is to bury all the deceased in Alice, Eastern Cape.
The City’s Fire and Rescue Service’s Jermaine Carelse confirmed three minors had died in a fire in the Endlovini informal settlement in the early hours.
He said his department was alerted just after midnight of a structure alight in Khayelitsha.
“Crews from Lansdowne, Mfuleni, Khayelitsha and Strand responded to the scene, which destroyed the structure and left approximately 14 people displaced.
“Firefighters found the bodies of the two boys and a girl, who had sustained fatal burns, among the debris around 01:00. The fire of which the cause is unknown. It was extinguished at about 01:20.”