Fires that have been raging in the Humansdorp region in the Eastern Cape over the past two days have claimed the lives of an elderly couple.
Police said that a 72-year-old woman had burned to death on a farm in Thornhill on Saturday afternoon while her 73-year0old husband had succumbed to his burn wounds later in the evening in a Port Elizabeth hospital.
Fires in the region‚ which destroyed a number of buildings and vegetation over the weekend‚ continued to burn on Sunday.
“At about 5pm yesterday‚ a 72-year-old woman died at their farm in the Thornhill area. Her husband was also admitted on Saturday with burn wounds at a hospital in Port Elizabeth and died during the evening.
“An inquest docket was registered following the death of Myrna van der Riet (72) and her husband‚ Walter van der Riet (73) as a result of a fire on their Langlaagte farm‚” Eastern Cape police said.
They added that the Thornhill. Emergency services had been deployed in the area since the start of the fires.