The Wesbank community was dealt a triple blow on Saturday morning after three siblings died in a fire.
And what makes it even more gut-wrenching is that the poor children were found holding one another underneath the debris.
Siblings Lenna, nine, Luciana, four, and 11-month-old Bruce Mckwena were killed at their home in Baxley Crescent.
The cause of the fire was still unknown.
Their godmother Maxine Human says she woke up at 2am and saw the flames.
“My husband broke a small window and threw me out and then our son. We had to walk on people’s roofs to get to safety,” she says.
“We broke the taps so the water can splash out and help save our homes.
“We found out there were people trapped in one of the Wendy houses, I didn’t know they were my godchildren.”
She says the children’s parents were out at the time and they were left in the care of their ouma who – together with her boyfriend – tried to save the siblings.
“The boyfriend woke up and then got the grandma out and when he went back, the plastic sheet on the roof melted and fell on his head and hands, and he turned around,” Maxine explains.
“The guy is in the hospital in the ICU, the burns were really bad, (he went to the hospital because) he couldn’t wait for the ambulance which took too long to arrive.
“The flames became too much and we stood there as the firefighters put out the fire and then when they located the bodies, their big sister Lenna was holding both her siblings.”
Mom Lentonita Mckwena was too distraught to comment, only saying she cannot express how she feels.
City’s Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson Jermaine Carelse says they were alerted of the fire at 2.15am.
“A total of 24 firefighters managed to contain and extinguish the blaze just before 4am,” he says.
“During firefighting operations the bodies of the children were discovered in one of the informal structures.
“Several informal structures were completely destroyed and two formal houses were damaged.”
Meanwhile in Nyanga, three persons, including two kids, died in a fire on Saturday.
Carelse says the City’s Fire & Rescue Service was alerted at 11.02pm of structures burning in Amplankeni Crescent.
“Firefighters managed to contain and extinguish the blaze just after midnight.
“A total of four informal structures were completely destroyed and a man and two male minors sustained fatal burn wounds.”