WC teen dies after falling from bakkie while fighting veld fire
WC teen dies after falling from bakkie while fighting veld fire
25 Deceember 2016
published by http://m.ewn.co.za
South Africa CAPE TOWN – A 14-year-old boy who was critically injured while assisting in extinguishing a veld fire near Caledon has died.
The teenager, who was a pupil at Paarl Boy’s High, was hospitalised earlier this week after falling off a bakkie and into the fire while helping to extinguish a veld fire.
He succumbed to his injuries in hospital.
The teen, along with a number of farmers, were assisting firefighters to extinguish a blaze raging near several farms just outside Caledon on Friday.
Overberg fire chief Reinard Geldenhuys explained what happened.
“Unfortunately one of the young boys who assisted was critically burned in the fire.”
Geldenhuys says the Caledon fire has been put out.
“The landowners are still keeping an eye on everything to make sure we don’t have reignition. The fire in Bredasdorp is still active. We’ve got a helicopter bombing it at the moment and ground teams trying to extinguish it.”
