One street child — and not four as previously reported — died in a fire at midnight on Tuesday night in the vacant basement in which they were sleeping in Johannesburg’s Hillbrow district, police said.
Police spokesperson Inspector Kriban Naidoo said three other street children suffered minor burn injuries and smoke inhalation.
The fire is believed to have been started by a candle tipping over.
The children usually sleep on the pavements and they might have sought refuge in the basement, Naidoo said.
”The basement was very dark and they had to use a candle for light, and when it caught fire they could not escape,” said Naidoo.
Earlier, Naidoo had said all four children had died in the fire.
In another fire, a man burned to death after his room caught fire in a Yeoville basement on Wednesday, Johannesburg emergency services said.
Spokesperson Malcolm Midgley said the incident happened at about 2am.
”One person sustained facial burns and 30 were displaced by the fire,” said Midgley.
The cause of the fire is unknown but an investigation is under way. — Sapa