Eastern Cape police have opened an inquest docket following the deaths of a mother and daughter in a shack fire early this morning in Motherwell, Gqeberha. A candle is believed to have caused the fire and no foul play is suspected.

Police spokesperson, Sandra Janse van Rensburg, says the mother was trying to rescue her daughter when she was engulfed by the flames.

“It is alleged that at about 00:01, in Nkonjane Street, NU12, Motherwell, witnesses claimed that two children aged 15 and 18 years old were sleeping in the flat at the back of the main house. A candle was used inside the flat and just after midnight the mother who was not in the flat at the time, noticed the flat was on fire. She ran inside and managed to rescue her 18-year-old daughter. However, as she went back to rescue the 15-year-old daughter Lelihle Ndabayini, the mother Nosicelo Ndabayini (37) was engulfed by the fire and died in the blaze with her daughter.”