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Dad, daughter die in inferno
06/08/2007 22:50 - (SA)
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| Firemen try to extinguish the fire at the home of Gabriel Lloyd and his paralysed daughter, Brenda Petze. (Netcare 911)
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Dries Liebenberg, Beeld
Durban - A 68-year-old man and his bed-ridden daughter were burnt to death when he tried to rescue her from their burning house shortly after midnight on Monday.
Despite the efforts of four fire engines to get the blaze under control, their house in the Durban suburb Bellair was totally destroyed.
Police spokesperson Danelia Veldhuizen said the bodies of Gabriel Lloyd, 68, and his daughter Brenda Petze, 48, both burnt beyond recognition, were found in the kitchen after the fire was extinguished.
The fire started when Petze, who recently suffered a stroke and was bed-ridden, apparently knocked over a bed light.
Petze's daughter Hellen discovered the blaze when she heard her mother moving about and went to investigate. Sea of flames
When she opened a door to get help, a sea of flames greeted her.
Lloyd pushed his wife Yvonne out of the door and returned to the room to help his daughter.
Hellen, meanwhile, was being helped by her aunt Laetitia van der Bergh who plucked her out of the house through an open window.
Veldhuizen said she suffered burns in the process, but Lloyd and his daughter did not make it out of the house.
When Netcare 911 paramedics arrived shortly after midnight, Yvonne and Hellen had escaped from the flames.
The house at that stage was blazing fiercely, said Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha.
He said it was possible that Gabriel Lloyd was overcome by smoke while he was trying to carry his daughter out of the house.
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