Three burnt to death in shack fire

JOHANNESBURG - Three people were burnt to death in a shack fire in Bishop Lavis, Western Cape police said on Sunday. A passerby saw the flames and smoke from the back shack and notified adults who were in the main house at 6pm on Saturday, said Captain Marie Louw.

A 16-year-old and three-year-old were in the back shack.

“The adults tried to put the fire off, while 49-year-old Sharon Khoen, who is the three-year-old’s mother, went inside the shack to save the children. Instead she was also burnt to death,” said Louw.

The 16-year-old had been visiting the family.

After fire fighters extinguished the fire, they found the three bodies inside the shack.

The cause of the fire was unknown.

- Sapa