A video showing a pregnant woman and her small child escaping an inferno is making rounds on social media.
The video shows a shack on fire in Marlboro, Alexandra, north of Johannesburg, this week. The shack is engulfed with raging fire; neighbours are seen running in urgency, carrying small buckets with water in an effort to extinguish the inferno.
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Some neighbours are seen throwing rocks in order to break the structure in an effort to save the mother and her toddler.
“The woman and her child are inside the shack, where is the child,” shouted a woman, others could be heard saying that they were concerned about the occupants.
All of a sudden, the child is heard crying.
The neighbours continued dousing the fire while the child was crying.
A neighbour is heard saying “nangu umntwana ushile” (loosely translated as the child has burnt).
Another woman is heard in the background advising other neighbours not to touch the child and instead they should call the ambulance.
The child continued to cry and shout for her mother.
Thabo Mapase (a concerned citizen), who visited the scene and recorded the aftermath of the incident, said the woman is one of residents who live in shacks who are waiting to be allocated with houses.
“A pregnant woman came out of the flames of the shack with her child. They were admitted to a hospital and the child is in ICU,” said Mapase.
He showed viewers an infrastructure nearby where residents are supposed to be housed in.
Johannesburg EMS spokesperson Nana Kgiba said they have received inquiries about this, however, EMS did not receive a call and they do not have a record of the incident.
The Star