Mother, her two children die in Bloemfontein shack fire

A mother and her two children lost their lives in a fire at Phase 7 in Bloemfontein, believed to have been caused by a candle used during load shedding.

The 40-year-old mother and her daughters, aged 8 and 3, were asleep when the fire broke out on Friday night. Their older brother, in his twenties, had locked the shack and gone to the shops when the tragedy occurred.

Free State Premier Macqueen Letsoha-Mathae visited the grieving family, announcing that the government will cover funeral costs and provide counseling support.

“So we are very, very sad. And this is one of those traumatic incidents, really to lose three family members. It’s not easy and understand the pain that this family is going through honestly hence we are here as a government to just say condolescence, but at the same time, who are going to help them to make sure that they have documents that they can use because everything’s been down here.”

Shack Fire | A mother and her two children perished: