UPDATE - Bush fires kill 28 people in South Africa
Date: 07-Sep-01
Country: SOUTH AFRICA
Author: Jodie Ginsberg
A bush fire in the wildlife park, which started this week, killed 15 villagers and four game rangers who died trying to save them, the park said this week.
Nine more people, including six children, died in two separate bush fires fanned by strong winds in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province late this week.
The villagers, who had been contracted to cut grass in the 20,000 sq km (7,720 sq mile) nature reserve, died as they tried to escape the blaze that engulfed the temporary camp set up to house them, spokesman William Mabasa said in a statement.
Mabasa said earlier that 16 villagers and three game rangers had died. The grass cutters came from surrounding villages.
"Two ladies died on their way to hospital and another died this morning in hospital. The rest were found at the scene," police spokesman Harry Shabangu told Reuters. "Most of the people died while they were running away."
No tourists were reported hurt although eight hikers staying at a nearby trail camp that was razed were safely evacuated, Mabasa said. Four elephants also died in the blaze.
President Thabo Mbeki expressed his condolences to the families and friends of those who died.
"South Africa salutes the bravery of those who died in the blaze whilst attempting to rescue those trapped by the fire," he said in a statement. "They will forever be remembered as heroes who make us proud to be South African."
Mabasa said the fire, which started this week afternoon and covered a large area of dry bushland around the workers' tented camp, had been largely contained but was not completely out by 10:50 p.m. (2050 GMT).
The cause of the blaze, fuelled by powerful winds near the camp that housed 38 workers, was not yet known.
"It could be that it was a natural fire caused by lightning, or that it was a man-made fire," South African National Parks corporate affairs head Salifou Siddo said.
Some 300 km (185 miles) away in northern KwaZulu-Natal, seven people burned to death in their house near Charlestown as a bush fire raged out of control, police spokesman Bala Naidoo said.
He said two more people died when they stopped their car in heavy smoke on the road between Vryheid and Dundee. Two others who had been travelling in the same car escaped unhurt.
JEWEL IN THE CROWN
Kruger, an area the size of Wales, is the jewel in the crown of South Africa's national parks and attracts close to one million visitors a year, 40 percent of them from abroad.
The nearest tourist camp to the fire, Pretoriuskop, which has accommodation for up to 350 people and was fully booked for Wednesday night, was unaffected by the blaze, a camp receptionist told Reuters.
"The camp itself is safe, it's just the site outside the camp that is burnt," she said. "So there is a lot of smoke at the moment. "But the visitors are safe and it's fine to use the camp."
Guests were still able to drive in and out of the fenced camp enclosure on expeditions to spot animals that include elephants, lions and giraffes.
A bush fire which devastated at least a quarter of the park in 1996 was Kruger's worst for more than 40 years. Thousands of birds and animals were believed to have been killed in the fire, started by lightning.
Much of Kruger's busiest camp, the Lower Sabie about 50 km (30 miles) east of Pretoriuskop, had to be rebuilt after it was destroyed by fire in 1998.
Kruger, formally proclaimed a national park in 1926, has the greatest animal diversity of any wildlife park in the world.
