Seven perish in Chatsworth fire
Seven die as fire destroys their home
HAD Shaista Sulaiman not woken for her early-morning prayer, she and her family would have perished in a fire that razed a Chatsworth home on Friday, leaving seven people dead.
Sulaiman, 34, believes divine intervention saved her, husband Nisar, 36, and children Ailisha, 7, and Moindheen, 6, from the same fate as the Ebrahim family, who lived in a separate section of the four-bedroom Erica Avenue house in Kharwastan.
All that is left of the subdivided property, owned by Nisar and his brothers, is the shell of the house after a fire — believed to have been started by a gas-stove explosion — broke out about 3am. There was no electricity in the home.
A team of firemen and forensic specialists spent hours trawling through the wreckage of the house trying to find the charred remains of Mukaram Warsi, his wife, Zainub Ebrahim, their children, Thaiba, Saiba and Rian Ebrahim, grandmother Zarina Ebrahim and a domestic worker.
“This is a huge tragedy, but I’m grateful to God that we survived,” said Sulaiman, who has received trauma counselling with the rest of her family.
“I woke up to pray this morning and went back to sleep.”
But she was ill at ease and woke again.
“I opened the bedroom door and all I could see was the fire ravaging the house. Huge flames were coming at me. I ran back into the room.
“My husband broke the burglar guard and practical- ly threw the children out of the window, then he pushed me out of the window. He was the last one to leave and suffered an injury to his leg.
“I was terrified . . . the only thing I could think about at the time was my children’s safety.”
Sulaiman said she heard screaming but was unable to go back into the house.
“It’s all a blur for me. It was too dangerous for us to go back in to save the others. There was intense heat. I couldn’t see anything. All I remember is thick, black smoke.”
The family, who escaped in their nightwear, lost all their belongings except their identity documents.
“I’m very relieved because the children are safe and our family is together. I’m help- less. We have nothing now. The kids are traumatised.
“If I didn’t wake up, we would also have been dead. My prayer saved us.”
A senior fireman, who did not want to be identified, confirmed that seven bodies had been found at the scene.
“It’s a crime scene under forensic investigation,” he said.
Police spokesman Colonel Jay Naicker said: “We don’t suspect any foul play.” However, a routine case of arson was being investigated.