Screams of kids trapped in fire still haunt rescuer
‘Imagine being told your kids died and two are hurt while you’re injured’
THEIR shrill screams pierced through the sound of roaring flames as the blaze engulfed their shack in Fisantekraal informal settlement.
Hendrika Blaaw ran to save the children, but by the time she arrived one-year-old Jayden Fransman and his three-year-old brother Javien were killed.
The siblings’ sister, brother and mother suffered severe burn wounds and are fighting for their lives in hospital.
The City’s Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson, Liezl Moodie, said Jayden and Javien died on the scene in Goedverwacht Street, Fisantekraal, Durbanville.
Their mother Antoinette, sister Leanne, 11, and brother Ashwin, 7, survived.
“Two minors died as a result of burn wounds in Goedverwacht Street, Fisantekraal. The fire destroyed 14 wood and iron structures, leaving 15 persons displaced,” she said.
Moodie said two women and two children were taken to a nearby hospital.
The cause of the fire was still undetermined at this stage, pending a police investigation.
Blaaw said she heard “babies” screaming from the street opposite where she lives.
She said Jayden had suffocated while sleeping and could not cry out.
“What was unfortunate about this fire was that the young children could not be saved. The community managed to save their siblings and a mother. The family is heartbroken. Everything was in flames in no time,” she said.
Blaaw said although many shacks were burning, it seemed as if only her sister’s had caught fire.
“I noticed from a distance that her bungalow was also burning. I then realised that it was her children who were crying,” she said.
Community leader Elaine Hartzenberg said she had never experienced people being in flames in front of her.
“When I got here, the fire was already big. The skin was falling of their mother’s bones when I was trying to grab her. What I saw here will forever be etched into my memory. The screams of the babies still echo my ears,” she said.
Hartzenberg said the community was helping the family to cope at this difficult time.
A neighbour, Nadine Jantjies, said she was trying to put herself in the mother’s shoes.
“Imagine being told that your children died and two others were in hospital while you are nursing burn wounds. I will pray that she survives this,” she said.