Six people have died in two separate fires in the Eastern Cape a week after seven people were killed in a house fire in Gatyane.
Mbhashe local municipality spokesperson Ncebakazi Kolwane said five people were killed when their house caught fire in Mputhi Village outside Dutywa on Saturday morning.
“The municipality is engulfed by house fires which continue to rage through the municipality in different wards and different homes. The cause of the fire is not known. We will await an investigation report from the fire experts,” said Kolwane.
In a separate incident, a 17-year old pupil at Tyelimhlophe Agricultural School in Mount Frere was burnt beyond recognition when she was allegedly locked inside the school’s hostel when the college caught fire on Friday.
Police spokesperson Captain Raphael Motloung said: “It is alleged that a 17-year-old female deceased was locked inside the school's hostel by the matron because she was so sick and couldn't attend classes.
"[Then] the hostel was seen on fire and there was an attempt to rescue her, but it was too late to do so and she died inside the hostel due to fire. And the hotel building was reduced to ashes. No one knows the cause of the fire [as yet] as hostel was burnt down.”
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