Residents living at the Siyangena informal settlement are pointing fingers at each other after their shacks went up in flames during the early hours of Sunday morning which resulted in the death of a 34-year-old man.
The circumstances surrounding a shack fire on Sunday at about 4am at Siyangena informal settlement at the corner of New Eisleben and Govan Mbeki Street, Philippi East are under investigation.
Spokesperson for the City's Fire and Rescue Service, Jermaine Carelse said that two adult males sustained injuries but were treated on the scene by the paramedics.
Meanwhile, the body of an adult male was found burned beyond recognition under the debris.
Carelse reported: “Two adult males sustained lacerations and were treated on scene by the medics. During the incident, firefighters found the body of an adult male under the debris with fatal burn wounds.
“The cause of the fire is unknown.”
One resident said that she lost everything in the fire and claims that residents are blaming each other.
She explained: “We do not know what started the fire, no one knows the real story because the residents are now pointing fingers at each other and accusing each other of where the fire could have started.
"The fire started around 4am, and at that time I was sleeping. I just heard the people shouting, ‘there is fire, there is fire’ and I woke up to the flames."
Police spokesperson Captain FC Van Wyk confirmed that Philippi East police registered an inquest case for investigation after the body of the 34-year-old man was found under the debris.
Van Wyk said: “When the fire was extinguished the body of a 34-year-old male was found. Philippi East police registered an inquest case for investigation.