#Horror as house fire kills mom

A 37-year-old mother has died after a fire ripped through her Bellair home on Wednesday night. Thuli Skhosana and her four children were in the house in Lewis Byron Road, when a fire broke out.

Her four children managed to flee the inferno and were treated for smoke inhalation.

And in another sad twist, Skhosana's father, Robert Maphumulo, said his son in law Babili, had died in hospital on Wednesday afternoon. He had been ill.

Ceron Lennox of Rescue Care said, when emergency teams arrived, the house was well alight.

"Paramedics assessed four children between the ages of 2 and 10-years old. They were then released into the neighbour's care. Once the fire was extinguished, fire department officials entered the house. They found the woman had sustained severe burns and there was nothing more paramedics could do and she was declared deceased on the scene," said Lennox.

When Maphumulo arrived at his daughter's house, he made arrangements for the children to stay with a family member.

"They know that their father has died. They are yet to be told about their mother's death. My daughter lived most of her life in Port Elizabeth so we need to contact relatives from PE to find out if they want her buried in Durban or in PE. There are still so many things to do," he said.

Neighbours said the Skhosana family was very quiet.

"They kept to themselves. We would see the children and they would talk to us over the fence. It is all so sad," a neighbour said.

The cause of the fire is yet to be determined however a neighbour claimed that one of the globe's in the childrens' rooms was not working.

Skhosana's cousin, Skhumbuzo Ntobela, said he and his cousin were very close.

"We grew up together. We were the same age. At school they would say we were twins," he said.