Res fire: Lovers 'locked in'

2006-04-25 22:12

Janine Jellars

Pietermaritzburg - Mystery surrounds the death of a University of KwaZulu-Natal student, who was found dead in a room in Galena Residence at Denison Complex, Pietermaritzburg campus.

The 23-year-old woman student was found dead in her boyfriend's residence room in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

According to information in The Witness's possession, the woman alerted the university's risk management service about 02:00 that the man "sounded suicidal".

When they arrived five minutes later, the control room told them a fire alarm had been tripped at the residence.

The RMS found the door double-locked and forced their way in.

The 27-year-old man's clothes were burning and RMS put out the fire and moved him to safety.

When they re-entered the room, they found the woman, who was not breathing and had no pulse, on the bed.

Paramedics and police arrived and confirmed she was dead, and the seriously burnt man was taken to Edendale Hospital.

Had locked themselves in

According to Paul Knoesen, a Netcare 911 paramedic who was at the residence, the man had 80% second-degree burns and a surgical airway procedure had to be performed on him.

Knoesen said the woman was definitely burnt, but not as badly as the man.

"RMS received information about something going on in the room," said the service's director, Hugh Temple.

He would not expand on this, but said the couple had locked themselves in the room.

"When security arrived, the man was on fire and she was dead. At that stage, we could not say what had caused her death," said Temple.

He said the university would not rule out the possibility that this could be murder and attempted suicide, but said the matter should be treated with sensitivity as "we are not aware of the circumstances leading up to the incident".

Essack Khan, operations manager at the fire department, said firefighters responded to an alarm about 02:00, but found "it wasn't a big fire".

"I did not attend the scene myself, but the officers on duty said the lady looked like she was sleeping on the bed," he said.

According to Khan, the toxic fumes in the room caused the woman's death.

Khan said the cause of the fire was unknown and it could have been anything from an electrical fault to smoking.

A fellow Galena resident, who asked not to be named, said the couple were "in love" and the woman spent most of her time with the man.

Another student, who was visibly shaken, said: "I was studying in my room and I heard a noise and screaming coming from his room.

Students offered counselling

"We all came out and we saw the flames under the door, so we rang the alarm. RMS came and broke down the door."

Speculation among students was that the couple left their heater on before going to bed.

Traumatised students were offered counselling to deal with the tragedy.

The names of the students were not officially released on Tuesday, because it was uncertain whether their relatives had been told.

The police are investigating the matter.

- The Witness