LÜDERITZ – A corrugated zinc shack was destroyed in a blaze that engulfed the backyard residence in Lüderitz on Monday night.
The shack at Erf E28 in Nautilus residential area was destroyed in a fiery blaze at about 22h00. Maria Meyer, the owner of the house where the shack is situated, could not say what exactly happened but suspects the tenant left a candle on. She explained that the shack burnt down completely and nothing could be saved when people came to help, even when the firefighters arrived to extinguish the blaze it was too late. “Luckily, no one sustained any injuries,” she told New Era. The tenant, Bernard Kaseni, who could not be reached for comment, has been renting at that shack for about a year and he used to work at a local bricklaying company. Eyewitnesses said when they came to the scene they saw Kaseni running away and he did not return until yesterday morning because of shock. Among the items destroyed in the blaze were a bed and some clothes worth an undisclosed sum.
Dwellings in the informal settlements are susceptible to shack fires in many areas across the country and in some cases people have been killed.