JOHANNESBURG, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Five children were killed in a shack fire at the Sonderwater informal settlement in Ikageng, South Africa's North West Province, police said on Monday.
The South African Police Service said in a statement that officers responded to reports of the fire shortly before midnight on Sunday. Upon arrival, they found the shack destroyed by the blaze, with the bodies of five children inside. Emergency medical rescue services declared all five dead at the scene.
Preliminary investigations indicated that the children's mothers, who are sisters, had left the children alone at home while visiting a nearby location, said the statement.
They were later alerted by community members that the shack was on fire and rushed back to try to extinguish the flames, but their efforts were hampered by limited access within the informal settlement, it added.
According to the statement, the victims were three girls and two boys between the ages of one and nine. Police have opened an inquest into the incident, and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Acting North West Provincial Commissioner Ryno Naidoo urged parents not to leave children alone at home.
The incident is the second fatal shack fire involving children in Ikageng in less than two weeks. On July 6, four-month-old twin boys died in a blaze at the Hashtag informal settlement. ■