14 year Thembi Ntipa succumbed to a fire on Friday night while saving her brother and sisters. She will be remembered as a hero for saving her family from the fire which claimed her life.
After discovering the fire she woke up her 9 year old brother and her 12 & 3 year old sisters. She broke a window to allow her siblings to escape. While helping her sisters though her brother panicked and ran in the wrong direction. Following him she was presumably overcome by smoke in the hallway where her body was later found.
The children’s mother was outside the house speaking to a boarder at the time of the incident. They only discovered the fire after they noticed that the electricity went off and they investigated. The boarder raced to the premier’s house across the street as asked the guards to call the fire department. Returning to the house he spotted the boy at a window and assisted him to get out.
The girls mother entered the house, but was not able to drag her daughter to safety. By the time fire & rescue arrived the fire was too intense to enter the building.
It is suspected that the fire was started by a heater in an empty room. Authorities are investing the cause of the fire.
The incident occurred at around 23:00 on Friday Night, 31/07/2015.
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