Wild fire swallows eight in Orphanage

Wild fire which started before dawn killed eight people, mostly children, at an orphanage in the South African coastal city of Durban on Thursday, emergency services said.

Six of the victims were children, with the youngest just eight years old.

“We responded to the fire at about 2:20am this morning,” emergency services spokesman Robert McKenzie told AFP.

“Four more people were taken to hospital with injuries ranging from serious to mild. None were in a critical condition.”The fire tore through the boys’ section of the orphanage and all those who died were males aged between eight and 21.