Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News, 2014-05-23

A fire has gutted a flat and office located above the Fomiss Caltex Service station on Gemsbok Street in Lenasia, south of Johannesburg on Friday evening.

According to the service station owner’s son, the fire was allegedly sparked by a short circuit during Maghrib Salaah, at about 5:30pm in one of the flats and quickly spread to the adjacent flat and office.

A service station attendant said he heard a woman scream: “There’s a fire”, alerting the management of the service station to rush with a fire extinguisher and step ladder and attend to the fire.

The woman who screamed, along with residents of the other flats were quickly evacuated and emergency services were summoned to the scene and the fire extinguished.

One person was treated for a wound to the hand after he broke a window to assist someone he thought might have been trapped in the building and also to allow the smoke to escape, while several other residents were treated for smoke inhalation.

A witness said that many residents were left traumatized by the incident.

Emergency services said the exact cause of the fire is being investigated.

(Twitter: @Faizie143)