IT will take time for a family to forget the tragic death of their one-year-old baby girl.
This after the baby tragically died in a house fire in Gamalakhe in Port Shepstone, KZN on Saturday, 15 April.
According to a relative who asked not to be named, the baby's mother bathed the infant and her three-year-old brother before they slept.
But the three-year-old didn't want to sleep and followed his mother when she left the bedroom.
"There was no electricity at the time, so the mother walked to a neighbour's house with the three-year-old to borrow a stove so she can cook when the electricity comes back.
"So, she had left the baby alone in the house sleeping. The house she was going to wasn't that far away and she assumed she would return immediately," said the family member.
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She said the electricity returned while the woman was at the neighbor’s house and her home caught fire, which started in the room where the baby was sleeping.
"She saw smoke when she returned home. She then saw residents try to put out the fire. She saw that the bedroom where her baby girl was sleeping was totally burnt. The rest of the house was still burning as the fire rapidly spread to the rest of the house," she said.
Sadly, nobody could save the baby as the bedroom was already engulfed by huge flames.
"We suspect that when the electricity returned, it came back strong and caused a fire. There is no other explanation to this because there was nobody in the house when the fire started. The baby burnt to death because nobody could run to the bedroom to save her," she said.
She said the family is deeply hurt and the mother is not taking this well.
"It will take time for us to forget this tragic death," said the relative.
Police spokeswoman Constable Thenjiswa Ngcobo said Gamalakhe cops have opened an inquest docket.
"It's alleged that a baby girl was in the house when the fire started. She was declared dead on the scene. The cause of the fire is unknown," she said.
