Pretoria – Emergency personnel have managed to bring a fire under control, which broke out at the Struisbult Care Centre in Springs, leaving 12 people dead and 27 injured.
Ekurhuleni Municipality’s emergency services’ senior district manager, Roggers Mamaila, said they received a call about the fire just before 12:30am on Monday and immediately dispatched rescue units.
“Rescue teams adopted a two-pronged approach to the incident. While others were fighting the blaze, other members were evacuating residents. The emergency personnel managed to bring the fire under control at 2am but search and rescue teams are still searching for any survivors,” Mamaila said.
He said out of 39 people found in the centre, which mainly housed the elderly and people with mental disabilities, 12 people died, 27 were rescued and transported to various hospitals, with one person in critical condition.
“Twenty-six people are recovering in hospitals but one person, who was critically injured, was incubated and placed on a manual ventilator at the scene before she was transported to the Pholosong Hospital for further care,” Mamaila said, adding that it was still unclear how and what started the fire.
Last year in August, about 18 elderly people died in a fire at the Pieter Wessels Home for the aged in Dunnottar. – BuaNews
