WARNING NOT FOR SENSITIVE VIEWERS. Five people among them children and a pregnant woman died a horrible fire death.

WARNING NOT FOR SENSITIVE VIEWERS

Five members including a pregnant woman of one family perished in an inferno after their kambashu ( shack ) caught fire. The fire broke out around four this morning, killing only but one member of the family who escaped with serious burns all over her body. The police had the grim task to remove the charred bodies from the scene for identification as all burnt beyond recognition. All five bodies were in one room and by the looks of it was overpowered by the flames as they were all in bed. Charred remains of the pets were also found among the debris. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but an open flame is not excluded as this part of town has no basic services like running water or electricity. The area Havana Informal settlement west of Windhoek is home to thousands of destitute that live from day to day, while most are unemployed. Although the Windhoek Fire Brigade responded within minutes after the call was received they could not prevented the fatalities as the area is densely populated by the squatters who erect their houses with any building material they can lay their hands on, ranging from plastic bags, carton boxes, pieces of wood and even scrap iron. Despite numerous calls on the mostly illegal squatters they ignore warnings from the city council as well as councilors and constituency leaders not to build and stay there as the area is not developed and lack basic needs like a proper infrastructure.

members of the police gather
the remains of the deceased.

 

one of the bodies still in bed when the fire
engulfed their kambashu

all the victims were still in bed when their shack
was destroyed by the fire

some smoldering remains with the
police removing the bodies from the
scene.

some onlookers and family members only stared
at the scene. 

some of the remains moved to the
police's mortuary van.

Fire fighters exhausted after putting out the
flames.

still combing the scene looking for any evidence.