Hundreds of homes burnt in South Africa as fire kills 1, more feared dead

At least one person has died and around 3,000 people have been rendered homeless after a fire broke out and swept an informal settlement in the city of Durban, South Africa Sunday, with fears mounting about more possible fatalities, eNCA reported.

The violent blaze started and engulfed hundreds of homes through Kennedy Road, as videos circulating on social media show remains of iron sheets required to build the shacks amid the smouldering debris.

The residents of the neighbourhood were seen salvaging their belongings from the remains.

The cause of the violent blaze is yet to be ascertained but according to eyewitnesses, "it started when two people, who had been drinking, got into an argument."

A South African Red Cross spokesman described it as a "disaster and estimated that about 1,000 shacks may have been destroyed, leaving some 3,000 people homeless."

Siyabonga Hlatshwayo told the eNCA that the "Red Cross had been distributing hot meals, mattresses and blankets to those affected and he appealed to the public for more donations."

The fatal blaze comes more than a week after a poisonous gas leakage killed at least 17 people including children that leaked in an illegal mine at an informal settlement in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg.

Gauteng Province Premier Panyaza Lesufi, visiting the site of the disaster near Boksburg, east of Johannesburg, said investigations were underway to determine how the cylinder in which the unidentified toxic gas was stored had sprung a leak.

Police and forensic investigators advised people to clear the area as the scene is still active with toxic gas.

A spokesperson for the Disaster and Emergency Management Services in Ekurhuleni municipality said: "Initial investigations indicated the gas could be linked to illegal mining."