Two children were killed and their mother seriously hurt on Monday in a shack fire in Snake Park near Dobsonville, Soweto.

It is understood a teenager living in the shack left a paraffin stove on after leaving for school at about 7.30am.

“When the shack caught fire the mother managed crawl out of the shack and raised the alarm but unfortunately the fire spread so fast that the two kids did not have a chance to escape,” said Johannesburg Emergency Service’s Percy Morokane.

Morokane said a full investigation will be conducted to understand what happened.