Man haunted by his 'failure' to save KwaThema family from fire
The tragic incident occurred in the early hours of Monday morning at the Marikana informal settlement in KwaThema, where a mother, father, and four of their children died.
Six family members have died in a fire in Boksburg in Ekurhuleni on the East Rand. Picture: Mongezi Koko/EWN
JOHANNESBURG - A neighbour who tried to save a family of seven from a fire that engulfed their home in Ekurhuleni said that the sound of the children screaming for help lingers painfully in his mind as he failed to reach them in time.
The tragic incident occurred in the early hours of Monday morning at the Marikana informal settlement in Kwa-Thema, where a mother, father, and four of their children died.
Only one child, a seven-year-old girl, survived. She remains in a critical condition after suffering severe injuries.
The scene has been declared a crime scene, with police, forensic experts and disaster management teams on site to determine the cause of the fire.
Klaas Mabena, a neighbour who injured his hand trying to break through the flames, said that he's haunted by the children's final moments.
"You can hear them crying, you can hear, you can feel that pain, that someone is losing life there. For a moment, I felt as though I have failed them, I could’ve been there earlier, you see. I don’t know."
Mabena said that he did what he could but the fire moved too fast.
And while authorities continue to scour the scene for clues, he’s left carrying the guilt of a night he said he'd never forget.