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[FILE PHOTO] Shack fire.
Authorities in KwaZulu-Natal say a total of eight people have died in two separate fire incidents in the province on Saturday.
The first incident claimed the lives of five children when their informal settlement caught fire at Shaka’s Head near Ballito on Durban’s north coast. The victims were aged between 1 and 19 years old.
JUST IN | Five children from the same family have died in a fire at a house in Ballito in the north coast of Durban. Nonhlakanipho Magwaza reports. pic.twitter.com/sZysL9d4ch
— SABC News (@SABCNews) February 28, 2026
Sivuyile Noyila, the father of the five children who died when their shack caught alight at Shaka’s Head in Ballito, on the Durban north coast, is devastated.
— SABC News (@SABCNews) February 28, 2026
In a separate incident in Umdoni on the province’s south coast, three people were killed in a structural fire shortly after midnight.
“From the report received disaster management centre in the area of Nongoloza, under the Umdoni local municipality, a structural fire took place after midnight, where three members of the Cibane and Dlamini families lost their lives. The MEC for the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) Reverend Buthelezi has expressed condolences to all the affected families, and he will pay a special visit to the affected families and will provide interim relief,” says Provincial CoGTA Spokesperson, Senzelwe Mzila.
RELATED VIDEO | Five siblings die in devastating Ballito house fire; parents hospitalised
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZoj3eHZF-k
