Police investigate Vosloorus informal settlement fire that claimed 2 children's lives

JOHANNESBURG - Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding a fire that claimed the lives of two children in Vosloorus on Tuesday.

The siblings, a two-year-old boy and a 10-week-old girl, were both declared dead on the scene on Tuesday.

The incident happened at the Colgate informal settlement - where the young children were left home alone by their mother.

A preliminary investigation indicates the mother left the two while attending to other matters away from home.

Ekurhuleni emergency service spokesperson William Ntladi: “Community members tried to extinguish the blaze to save the trapped children, but failed as both were found with 100% full and partial thickness burn wounds inside the shack."