An eight-year-old girl and a 50-year-old woman died after a hand grenade was apparently thrown into their home in Valencia in Nelspruit on Saturday morning, emergency services said.
Witnesses told ER24 spokesperson Werner Vermaak that an occupant of a white car was spotted throwing ”something” through the bedroom window of the house at about 3am.
The woman and child were in the bedroom at the time of the explosion. They suffered massive injuries and died on the scene.
Vermaak said paramedics also treated a 17-year-old girl believed to be the daughter of the 50-year-old woman. She told paramedics that she was also in the bedroom at the time of the explosion.
She suffered deafness and injuries to the left side of her body.
”It was a gruesome scene. The bed and part of the roof inside the room was ripped in pieces,” said Vermaak.
It was reported that the family had been planning to attend an engagement party in Johannesburg later on Saturday. Vermaak said the eight-year-old girl was visiting her family on a holiday from Durban.
Police in the area were not immediately available for comment. — Sapa