A house fire which occurred during the early hours of Thursday morning (7 December) at Pinkster Park, a housing complex situated on the corner of the N2 highway and Mondeor Road, Helderberg Rural, claimed the life of a four-year-old boy, while his mom and grandfather were both hospitalised with injuries.
According to Jermaine Carelse, spokesperson for the City of Cape Town’s Fire and Rescue Service, firefighters responded to the call of a dwelling alight in Pinkster Park at 06:30. “Crews from Sir Lowry’s Pass and Strand attended the scene and managed to extinguish the fire by 07:20,” he said, adding that substantial damages to the dwelling and its contents were sustained, while a man and woman were treated and transported to a nearby hospital with burn wounds.
“A male minor succumbed to fatal burn wounds and the cause of the fire is unknown pending an investigation by the local police,” confirmed Carelse.
Sergeant Suzan Jantjies, spokesperson for Somerset West police, said an inquest docket had been opened and further details had not yet been made available at this stage.
A manager at the housing complex, Suzette Steenkamp, was sent a request for information, but no reply was received at the time of going to print on Tuesday morning (12 December), and access to Pinkster Park was restricted.
On Monday afternoon (11 December) it was established that the grandfather had been discharged from hospital, but the mother of the child was still receiving treatment.
