In a bid to light her home because of the current load-shedding, an 84-year-old woman forgot to switch off her candle which then lighted a fire in her room burning her to death, the Chronicle reports.
Elizabeth Mguni was pronounced dead by paramedics who had come to save her after a distress call was made from her family home in Emganwini.
Elizabeth’s nephew Loveson narrated the ordeal to the Chronicle and said:
She went to bed early and the rest of us were still chatting in the lounge. Due to Zesa load shedding we had placed a lit candle in her room and also lit a mosquito coil. We don’t even know how the fire broke out. But I just saw my wife who was lying on the couch suddenly screaming and dashing to her room. She said she smelt smoke,
The fire was concentrated on her pillow. But she was seriously burnt on her back and her face. We suspect she could have died due to suffocation.
There was just too much smoke that was coming from her room. We managed to pull her out of the room while our neighbours reported the incident to emergency services and an ambulance was called. By the time it arrived we had managed to put out the fire. However, the ambulance crew pronounced her dead on arrival
More: The Chronicle
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