/ 10 February 2001

120 HOMELESS AFTER CAPE FLATS FIRE

ABOUT 120 people were left homeless after a fire gutted 66 shacks at Langa on the Cape Flats on Friday night, a Cape Town disaster management representative said on Saturday. Mark Pluke said the fire began at about 1am and was extinguished an hour and a half later. No one was seriously injured in the blaze. Pluke said the fire swept through the informal settlement in zones 23 and 24 of Langa. Reports that a strong south-easterly wind fanned the flames were incorrect, he said. The fire had spread quickly because of the density of the housing, not the weather conditions.