Three siblings die in raging fire

| Wednesday September 29, 2010 00:00

The deceased are a girl aged 14 and her brothers aged 11 and 7 respectively. The children died a horrible death after desperately climbing up a tree to flee advancing flames.

All three were the children of a farm labourer working in neighbouring farms. One of them was seriously scalded.The Chairman of the Serowe Administrative Authority, Modisagape Makwati, told Mmegi that the veldt fire broke out in farms near Western Sandveldt last Wednesday and that many people went to help put it out.

Information reaching Mmegi is that the children and a cousin of theirs were left in the care of their mother but must have gone to gather wild fruits in the bush when the fire engulfed them.

'The fire rounded on them, forcing them to climb up a tree while their cousin jumped on another,' Makwati said. 'Their cousin escaped with serious burns.'

Their badly burnt bodies were found by family members when they returned from putting out the wild fire.According to Makwati, the children were to be buried at Sehunou settlement today. 'We received a lot of help from the business community in Serowe and we are grateful to them,' Makwati says.