Aunt helpless as 2 babies burn to death

AN aunt heard her two nephews aged three and four years screaming for help while trapped in a burning house but the flames were too big for her to rescue them, leading to their agonising death.

The two minors from Bulilima District were burnt beyond recognition and their bodies were found huddled together in a corner, suggesting that they had tried in vain to escape.

The two cousins, Thandolwethu Moyo and Zakhele Ncube, were left by their aunt, Mrs Nokuthula Moyo, alone in the four-roomed house while she performed her household chores at around 6AM last Friday.

Their relatives suspect that they were playing with matches, igniting the deadly inferno.

One of the boys was an orphan while the parents of the other one live in South Africa.

When their aunt realised that her house was on fire, it proved to be too late to rescue them.

When villagers finally extinguished the fire, the bodies of the two boys were huddled in a corner of the room and they were burnt beyond recognition.

Headman Sikhathini confirmed the incident which occurred in Manyewu Village.

“There is an incident of two children from my area of jurisdiction who died on Friday morning. The two boys were left by their aunt and it’s suspected that they played with matches which caused the fire.

“When she left them they were awake and playing on the bed and a few minutes later the house was on fire,” he said describing the incident as a huge tragedy for the community.

Mr Ndabezinhle Moyo, an uncle to the late boys, said his sister-in-law woke up at around 6AM to start a fire in her kitchen hut to prepare some food.

He said she went on to sweep the yard and a few minutes later a neighbour called out that smoke was coming out of her house.

Mr Moyo said his sister-in-law rushed to the house and tried to enter in order to save the babies but failed.

“My sister-in-law rushed to the door and tried to enter but she was choked by smoke and she retreated. She called out to the two boys to run out of the house but they kept screaming and calling out to her to save them.

“I also saw the fire from my homestead and I rushed to the scene together with other villagers. We tried to extinguish the fire but we faced great difficulties and it took us long but we were already too late,” he said.

Mr Moyo said when the fire finally died out, his nephews had been burnt beyond recognition. He said the remains of their bodies were huddled in a corner in the bedroom hut.

He said he assumed that the two boys were trying to run away from the flames.

Mr Moyo said the death of the two boys had left their family devastated and they were waiting for some relatives who live out of the country to decide when they would be buried. — @DubeMatutu