 Five young children 'died holding each other' after they were left completely alone as a blaze engulfed their home, it has been claimed. The kids, aged between one and eight, were siblings and cousins whose mums had gone out drinking on Saturday night, it is believed. At around 4.26am on Sunday, emergency services were called to a fire in the informal settlement of Itereleng, southwest of the South African capital Pretoria. Four shacks had gone up in flames, taking the lives of Lethokuhle and Siyanda Masango, aged one and four, along with their cousins Senzo Mahlatsi Machika, two, Themba Thulane, six, and eight-year-old Dimakatso. 'The children's bodies were close together and it seems they died holding each other,' said neighbour Gilbert Mahlelebe. Mums Lindiwe Machika, 39, and Zanele Machika, 36, were arrested and each charged with five counts of child negligence and five counts of culpable homicide. The dad of three of the children, Johannes Masongwane, woke up to a nightmarish call from locals telling him his kids had died. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Dad Johannes Masongwane (left) said he had 'lost everything' in the tragedy (Picture: EWN News) He said there was so much destruction he could not 'even point at his kids or their remains because everything was just ash'. The devastated parent told local outlet SowetanLIVE: 'I was with my children on Saturday and my partner told me she was taking our kids to visit their aunt (her sister). 'I didn't know they would be sleeping over there and only learnt about it late in the evening. 'At about 3am, I got a call that my children had burnt. When I got to the scene, I found that my children had burnt beyond recognition. 'Their mother and her sister were not there. They have ruined my life. I lost everything.' Both mums, who are still in police custody, gave M){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
Five young children ‘died holding each other’ when a fire engulfed their home after they were left there alone, it has been claimed.
The kids, aged between one and eight, were siblings and cousins whose mums had gone out drinking in the South African capital Pretoria on Saturday night, it is believed.
At around 4.26am on Sunday, emergency services were called to a fire in the informal settlement of Itereleng, southwest of the city.
Four shacks went up in flames, taking the lives of Lethokuhle and Siyanda Masango, aged one and four, along with their cousins Senzo Mahlatsi Machika, two, Themba Thulane, six, and eight-year-old Dimakatso.