Seven dead and thousands displaced as fire ravages a picturesque coastal town in South Africa
Seven people have been confirmed dead and over 125 patients treated, some of them for burn wounds since Thursday, in Knysna town in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, reports SABC.
More than 500 properties have been destroyed including the Knsyna hospital which had to be evacuated due to raging wild fire that started five days ago ran rampant through the town of 77 000 people propelled by strong winds.
“The scale and intensity [of the blaze], mixed with the drought and intense weather conditions, made it impossible to deal with the fire,” Incident commander for Knysna Reinard Gildenhys told the Times Live.
Nearly 10 000 residents were evacuated due to the fires which destroyed homes, structures, and power and communication lines according to News24.
The Knysna Municipality’s Fran Kirsten says the fires have been contained for now.
“The fires are all still contained and we had no further cases over the night. Our teams are still monitoring the situation and hopefully they’ll be able to control it today.”
As of Sunday morning, over R32m (2,480,143USD) in cash, in addition to goods and services had been donated to help aid relief efforts by banks, supermarkets and non-government organisations to the victims of the fire.
#KnysnaFire Fierce winds fanning flames on the outskirts of Concordia – we've alerted authorities @BrandtKev – KB pic.twitter.com/ow6arFopQ3
— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) June 12, 2017
#KnysnaFire UPDATE: NSPCA is still searching 4 animals burnt, injured or displaced as a result of the fires. pic.twitter.com/tRdWRntKY1
— NSPCA South Africa (@NSPCA_SA) June 12, 2017
#EdenFires @GiftoftheGivers has set up an operational base on the second level parking of Checkers centre in Knysna #KnysnaFire #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/u3FKhPgu4k
— Sphiwe Hobasi (@MrCow_man) June 11, 2017
