A woman from Kleinskool in Nelson Mandela Bay has died after the blanket she was sleeping under caught alight just before 01:00, August 20.
According to police information, 38-year-old Nicolett Stefaans, her boyfriend, son and daughter, were sleeping in their shack in Ceratonia Street when the daughter woke up and saw that the blanket covering her mother was on fire.
Police spokesperson, Capt. Sandra Janse van Rensburg, said that the daughter called out to her father but he was only able to help the children get out of the house.
“However, he wanted to go back to help his girlfriend, but the fire was too intense. Stefaans died in the fire,” Janse van Rensburg said.
“It is alleged that a heater was on in the house and could have caused the fire. An inquest was opened at Bethelsdorp and will be investigated,” she added.