Two people killed in basement fire at abandoned block of flats in central Pretoria

Two people died due to smoke inhalation after a fire broke out in the basement of an abandoned building in Pretoria.

Supplied/City of Tshwane EMS

Two people were killed in a fire at an abandoned block of flats in central Pretoria in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The blaze was the second reported at the same building in the space of just three hours.

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The City of Tshwane’s Emergency Services Department was first alerted to a fire at the abandoned De Williershof residential building,in Sunnyside,at 01:15 on Sunday.

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The department’s spokesperson,Nana Radebe-Kgiba,said seven rooms on the ground floor were gutted,but no casualties were reported.

Just three hours later,however,they were again called out to the same building.

Two people died due to smoke inhalation after a fire broke out in the basement of an abandoned building in Pretoria.

Supplied/City of Tshwane EMS

Two people died due to smoke inhalation after a fire broke out in the basement of an abandoned building in Pretoria.

Supplied/City of Tshwane EMS

This time around,it was the basement – where people were now living in shacks,separated by wooden boards – which was engulfed in flames.

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Two bodies were subsequently discovered.

“The two people died of smoke inhalation as they could not evacuate the basement,” Radebe-Kgiba said.

The fire has since been extinguished.

The cause was not yet clear and Radebe-Kgiba said they were still conducting preliminary investigations.