A woman has died and her father taken to hospital after their house in Hudson Street, Newton Park caught alight late last night, August 8.
Colonel Priscilla Naidu, police spokesperson, confirmed the incident and said that at about 23:30, police responded to incident. On arrival members saw fire emanating from the roof.
“A 25-year-old autistic woman, who was in the house in the back room, died. She was the daughter of the owner of the house,” Naidu said.
It is suspected that the cause of fire may have been an electrical shortage in the roof.
According to a source at the scene, emergency workers arrived at the house around 23:35 and struggled to get the woman out of the house. “Her father was taken to hospital,” the source said.
Police have opened an inquest docket.
In another incident on Monday at about 18:00, police attended to an incident in Newton Street in Newton Park where it was alleged that two people were busy working on renovations at the place when a heat gun exploded and the room caught alight.
“A 26-year-old man passed away while the other man was treated and discharged. An inquest is under investigation,” Naidu said.
