Members of the Lüderitz community are reeling in shock after a mother and her two minor children died when their shack caught fire in the Old Location area, at the southern coastal town last weekend.

 According to the police’s newly transferred regional crime investigations coordinator, Nicodemus Mbango, the deceased woman (41), when she returned from work in the evening, put a pot on the stove and went to sleep, whereafter an electric circuit failure sparked the fire, causing her death and that of her 14-year-old girl and boy (5). 

“A boy living next door saw the fire and alerted the neighbours who managed to pull the girl out of the shack but she was already dead by that time, whilst the mother and her boy burnt to ashes,” said Mbango. 

He added that the bodies have been collected for post mortems, but that autopsy results are not available yet whilst police investigations continue.