Fire victim dies in hospital
Frank Usaka, who was recently rescued from a burning room by neighbours and people living with him, passed away eight days after the fire.
Usaka, whose age is unknown, sustained severe burns during the fire which occurred in Stoffberg Avenue in the early hours of Tuesday, July 21.
“I woke up to a glass shattering sound coming from the neighbour’s house at 3am in the morning. I knew something was wrong so I woke up my husband,” said Louise Sekul.
“We could smell smoke so we knew it was a fire and we woke everybody up in our house to go and help them.”
Alan Sekul tried to curb the fire from their side by hosing through the neighbour’s bedroom window, while waiting for the fire department to arrive.
“When we came there, we noticed that the fire was coming from a room and that somebody was trapped inside,” said Andrea Jooste, Louise’s daughter.
“We and three other men from the house tried to break down the door, because the man inside didn’t respond,” added Andrea.
After a long struggle Usaka was rescued from the burning room. He was in a critical state and had already lost consciousness when he was rushed to the Far East Rand Hospital. Due to his third degree burns, Usaka was later transferred to the Johannesburg General Hospital where he passed away on Wednesday, July 29.
Also read:
Preventing and dealing with a fire
