By Buziwe Nocuze
A couple and their landlord burnt to death when a homemade torch made out of a plastic bag started a fire which razed their home to the ground.
Murial Petersen and Jonathan Hoffmeisterrom from Mannenberg in Cape Town had gone out to look for their missing kitten in the nearby woods using the torch.
The night then took a turn for the better, as before much time had passed the couple found their beloved kitten – but their good fortune ended there.
It’s believed that when they returned home, they dropped the torch, which was still burning, in their yard. But the yard was full of plastic bags they had collected for recycling.
When they went into the house their landlord Abubakar Jassiem was already sleeping – and they didn’t realise they had started a fire.
All three perished in the fire, along with their kitten.
Neighbours told Scrolla.Africa that had there not been plastics inside the yard the three would have survived.
Neighbour Charmaine Fortuin said they were woken by screams from the three trapped inside the house.
“There was nothing we could do because the house was covered in flames from the burning plastics,” she said.
“My house was also on fire. Thank God we woke up quickly because we could have lost everything or burnt to death. The scrap they had inside their yard spread the fire to my house. I’m glad it didn’t all burn down.”
Fortuin said she doesn’t know how she will rebuild her house.
“We renovated the house for my birthday in September and we depend on my grant money.”
Sergeant Wesley Twigg, Western Cape SAPS spokesperson, said an inquest docket had been registered after two males, 45 and 58, and the body of a 44-year-old female were discovered following a fire in Gonubie street.
“The victims were burnt beyond recognition,” he said.
Pictured above: Shattered remains of a house where a couple and their landlord died.
Photo Credit: Buziwe Nocuze
