Minutes after Werner Kleinhans was pulled from his burning house in Karatara in Knysna, Western Cape, on Saturday, he watched helplessly as his fiancée Elza Booyens (42) and their four-year-old-son, Johannes, perished in the flames.

Knysna-Plett Herald reports that Gert de Lange, known as GT, who was also in the house, and Werner, escaped the blaze that started at about 06:45 at 17 Akkerlaan.

Neighbours assisted Werner to escape through the back door, while Gert and Elza, who was carrying Johannes in her arms, headed for the front door.

“For some reason [that] we will never know, she then turned back into the house,” says Caryn Myburgh, Werner’s sister-in-law, who also lives in Karatara.

Ironically, Elza had been the first to raise the alarm.

A nightmare

Neighbours could hear Elza calling and tried to extricate Elza and Johannes through a bedroom window after breaking the burglar bars. Then the roof collapsed, and Elza and Johannes died in the fire.

“It is a nightmare,” says Caryn.

She says Werner could not speak after the tragedy. “He kept crying and crying and crying… as he was sitting [in] an ambulance.”

Both Werner and GT can only remember ‘bits and pieces’ of the tragic event.

Caryn took Werner to a nearby house that belongs to the Kleinhans family before the bodies of Elza and Johannes were removed.

“There is nothing we can say to Werner. It is devastating, not only to the family, but the whole community,” says Caryn.

Fire services delay

The family has questioned why it took the fire brigade hours to arrive. Estimates of the response time varied between one-and-a-half and three hours.

It appears that there was some confusion over accessing the fire tender (water carrier) at Karatara, about 200m from where the blaze took place. Eventually, a fire tender from Sedgefield arrived.

Alberto Marbi, who was present in the aftermath and emphasised that he was speaking as a concerned resident, said in a message sent to the Knysna Plett Herald on Saturday:  “Today as we celebrate the Knysna 2017 fires, this tragedy struck again in Karatara to take the two lives and this really got the community emotional as it took the fire department one-and-a-half hours to get to the scene, while a fire truck that is stationed in Karatara was locked up and the keys somewhere.

“This tragic moment brings again the question of the deserted rural areas not being taken seriously when it comes to emergencies.”

Southern Cape police spokesperson Sergeant Chris Spies says an inquest docket was opened after two bodies were retrieved from the debris at about 06:45.

“Preliminary reports available suggest that police were dispatched to the scene where a house was on fire. On arrival, they found the premises on fire. The bodies of the victims, believed to be a woman and boy, were found under debris.”

Official suspended

Spies says the cause of the fire is yet to be established.

The municipal driver/operator of the fire tender stationed in Karatara was suspended a month ago, and the keys to the store where the truck was kept were taken away from him.

He says if he had not been suspended, he could have reacted to the emergency much quicker.

According to Caryn, the family will be meeting this week to decide on the funeral arrangements for Elza and Johannes.

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