Fire of heartbreak
WE WATCHED HELPLESSLY AS HE SCREAMED, ‘HELP ME, HELP ME!’
THE piercing screams of their younger brother pleading for help as a blaze ravaged his cottage at the Lakehaven Child and Youth Care Centre in Sea Cow Lake are etched in the minds of the Gangaparsad sisters, Vireshnie and Nireshnie.
Ajesh Gangaparsad, 8, a Grade 2 pupil at Palmiet Primary School, was one of eight children from Cottage 3 who died in the early hours of Thursday. All except two were minors.
Ten boys and two childcare workers managed to escape.
Ajesh and his sisters, Vireshnie, 17, and Nireshnie, 11, were placed at the centre four months ago by a court. Their father, Rajesh, who lives in Phoenix, and their mother, Shanitha, of Welbedacht, are separated.
When a POST team visited the family on Monday, Vireshnie, a Grade 5 pupil at Palmiet Primary (she had interrupted schooling), vowed not to return to the centre.
“There are too many sad memories. If I do go, it would only be to collect my belongings,” she said.
Recounting the lead up to the chilly Thursday morning when flames engulfed the cottage Ajesh lived in, Vireshnie said: “I saw Ajesh on Wednesday afternoon, He ran up and hugged us. He was happy and said he was going to play with his friends.
“He was running about and trying to play netball. Before we returned to our cottage, I told him I would see him the following morning as we travelled to school together.
“Then, early on Thursday, my sister and I got up when we heard screaming. We ran outside and saw this huge fire.
“I panicked because I knew Ajesh lived in that cottage. Because I had my sister with me, I couldn’t look for him but some of the other girls started calling out his name.”
Vireshnie said while some children escaped, her sibling was nowhere to be found.
“I heard two boys inside scream. The one sounded like Ajesh. I’m sure it was him. He screamed ‘help me, help me’.”
Vireshnie said everyone watched helplessly as the cottage caved in. They overheard someone say, “Those boys are gone.”
They were instructed to return to their rooms to bath and eat, Vireshnie said, then staff broke the news to them about the deaths.
The sisters, now living with their dad in Phoenix, said they did not want to return to the centre. “I’m scared to go back. It has too many sad memories,” said Vireshnie.
Nireshnie, a Grade 3 pupil at Dr Macken Mistry Primary School in the area, said they wanted to complete their schooling in Phoenix.
Their dad, Rajesh, who is unemployed, said he felt “disheartened and disappointed” to have his son meet such a tragic end.
“I can still remember him asking for an iPad. I also promised to buy him a soccer ball.”
He said Ajesh was talkative and enjoyed tagging along wherever he went.
Speaking about the last day he saw his son, he said: “After the court placed them at the home, I did not get an opportunity to say goodbye. I didn’t see him but we spoke (by telephone) in May. He said ‘Dad I can’t speak, I’m in a hurry to play with my friends’.”
At around 9am on Thursday, Rajesh was called and told to go to the home.
“I took a taxi from Phoenix into town and then a bus. While walking in the area, a social worker was driving past with my wife and they gave me a lift. By then the fire was out.”
They were then told Ajesh had died.
Shanitha wept uncontrollably. “I just can’t take it any more,” she said.
“He was the youngest baby in my family. I spoke to him this month and he asked me when I was going to visit him. I told him I was not coming to visit but to take him home.”
A POST team were not allowed on to the premises on Monday morning.
Security guards said the area was off-limits as investigations were under way.
An insurance assessor was on site.
Good Samaritans arrived outside in their droves to drop off cash, food and clothing.
Social Development MEC Weziwe Thusi met privately with the home’s management.
She later spoke to POST, saying she was not in Durban when the incident occurred.
When notified, Thusi said she dispatched social workers to the centre to counsel and provide moral support.
On Monday, when school reopened after the July holidays, they visited the schools the children attended to break the news to staff and pupils.
“This was tragic and sad. I felt so bad,” said Thusi. “You know an accident is an accident.”
She said the Department of Labour would visit the centre and her department would launch its own investigation into the incident.
“Our investigation will not interfere with the investigations currently being conducted by the SAPS, the eThekwini Municipality’s fire department and the Department of Labour. Ours will focus on matters of compliance with the norms and standards for child and youth care centres focusing on the protection, care and safety of children.”
Thusi then visited the Gangaparsads to sympathise with the family.
“We feel sorry for what has happened. It was an accident. But we are investigating,” she told them. “Social workers will work with you and the centre to ensure everything goes well.
“We feel bad about the whole incident but as we always say, it’s God’s plan.”
The MEC said a memorial service was expected to take place on July 30, at the Rivers Church in Durban North.
The family informed her they intended to arrange the funeral themselves.
According to reports, the cottage had 10 bedrooms.
Some of the bodies were found on beds, while others were on the floor.
Two bodies were found on top of one another.
Police reportedly believe some of the victims died from smoke inhalation.
The divisional commander at Umhlanga Fire Station, Bheki Hadebe, who attended the scene with his crew, said the investigation into the cause of the fire was not yet complete.
He said by the time they arrived a section of the roof had collapsed into the cottage.
“In my career, this was one of the worst scenes I have attended. It was very shocking. It’s bad enough when one person dies, but now there were eight,” he said.
Child Welfare, Durban and District, which oversees the home, said it could only comment on the tragedy next week.