Young mother and baby perish in fire

Devastated and in disbelief. Those are the words used to describe the emotions of the family of 21-year-old Welbedacht West mother, Nonhlanla Mkwanasi, who, along with her baby, were killed after their dwelling caught alight in the late hours of Monday.

Antonia Charles, the great-grandmother of the toddler, broke down when speaking about the incident, as two innocent lives were lost under such tragic circumstances.

“This area has always had electricity issues and on that night, we experienced load-shedding. Nonhalanla’s mother, Celiwe, who lives in the home next door, was the only one there at the time, but she is sickly, and her condition only gets worse with the smell of paraffin candles during such times. This meant that Nonhalanla and her baby, Bliss, had to sleep in the other dwelling, taking a candle along with her as the baby was afraid to sleep in the dark,” said Charles.

Celiwe would awaken later that night to the haunting screams of her daughter and baby as their home had inexplicably caught fire. “The door was latched from the inside, so I could not open it no matter how hard I tried. With my illness making me frail, trying to break the door down was impossible. My babies just cried for me, until the screams stopped, and I felt that they were gone,” said the heartbroken mother.

Charles explained that this traumatic experience caused Celiwe to faint and fall down a bank, injuring her in the process.

“She even tried to end her own life, by jumping in front of oncoming vehicles on the road, but her neighbours prevented her from doing so. Our other baby, who was around the same age as Bliss, was her best friend, and she still calls out for her when she wants to play. Nonhlanhla died with Bliss in her arms, that is how they were found when they looked through the ash. She was holding her baby to her chest,” said Charles.

According to divisional commander of the Fire Department in the West Durban area, Kumar Birjalal, the department was called out to an incident in the Welbedacht West area, in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

“When vehicles arrived at the scene, they witnessed an informal dwelling, engulfed in flames. After the area was completely extinguished, firefighters noticed two female blue codes, who were brought out of the dwelling,” explained Birjalal.

Chatsworth SAPS communications officer, Cpt Cheryl Pillay, stated that police responded to a complaint regarding a dwelling, which had caught alight in the Welbedacht West area. “Chatsworth police are investigating two inquest dockets. When using candles and lamps during load-shedding, residents must be cautious,” said Cpt Pillay.