Skukuza | Wednesday
A DEVASTATING bush fire whipped through South Africa’s Kruger National Park overnight, killing at least 19 people, among them three park rangers, an official said on Wednesday.
Firefighters were still battling the blaze in the country’s premier game reserve Wednesday morning, but officials said it had been brought under control and the threat to life had receded.
Kruger Park representative William Mabasa said that 16 of those who burnt to death were members of a nearby community harvesting grass for thatched roofs for their homes.
Three others were game park rangers fighting the blaze. Five people were taken to a nearby hospital where another victim later died, public SABC radio reported.
The fire totally destroyed the Numbi camp in the the southern area of the park, some 500 kilometres northeast of Johannesburg.
Mabasa said rescuers were searching the area in case there were further casualties. He added that the overnight rescue attempt had been hampered due to the darkness.
A senior army officer based in the park, who asked not to be named, said by mid-Wednesday morning the fire had been brought under control.
“There is no more danger to life. It has been brought under control and is burning against the wind, which means that it’s spreading fairly slowly,” the officer said.
South African National Parks representative Salifou Siddo said the reserve was currently using all its resources to extinguish the blaze.
“Firefighters got there as quickly as they possibly could, we are putting all our resources into fighting the blaze,” he said
During the past two weeks, fires had sprung up in the park, but all of them had been quickly brought under control.
“The weather was not in our favour (with this blaze). It was very windy in the park yesterday. Fires can change direction very quickly, which makes it difficult fight them,” he said.
Siddo said the bush in the park is extremely dry at the moment and conducive to fire.
“The cause of this fire is unknown, and would have to be investigated,” Siddo said.
A local reporter who accompanied firefighters on a flight over the park on Wednesday morning said between 5_000 to 10_000 hectares of the park had been destroyed.
“The whole area is still covered in smoke,” the reporter said.
August and September, at the end of winter in South Africa, are some of the driest months, with field fires often raging for days before being brought under control.
Kruger National Park, situated in the northeast of the country and home to game species such as lion, rhinoceros, buffalo, leopard and elephant, is a popular tourist destination visited by more than a million people every year. – AFP