Durban Fire officials investigating South Coast Road blaze
Investigations are underway to determine the cause of this morning's devastating building fire along South Coast Road, south of Durban.
"At this stage it's hard to say. The flames were more on the north side of the building. We suspect that's where the fire started. An investigation is underway into what started the fire," Durban Fire's Sbu Mkhulisi says.
Mkhulisi says they received reports of a fire at the building - just after 1am today.
The double-storey property is used to store rice, spices and matchboxes. Mkhulisi says the owners were on site as well as police. Fire fighters worked tirelessly for more than six hours and in dangerous conditions to extinguish the blaze.
"The ground floor and the first floor was alight. We managed to confine the fire to the upper floor. The building structure was compromised and there's a roof area that caved in," he says.
Thick, black smoke could be seen rising from the building this morning. Traffic in the vicinity of Kenyon Howden Road also had to be rerouted.
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