The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) on Saturday, confirmed that a fire had spread to its facilities and left six soldiers dead.
Six SANDF members lost their lives to a raging wildfire that started on Friday night, from Khathu in the Northern Cape and spread to a military base in Lohatla.
According to the department of cooperative governance, human settlements and traditional affairs in the province, the fire started within the jurisdiction of the Gamagara local municipality.
With the provincial disaster management centre unit unable to battle it, the fire then spread to the SA Army Combat Training facility in Lohatla.
The sparsely populated Northern Cape province is largely arid and prone to raging wildfires.
On Saturday morning, the SANDF confirmed that the fire spread to its facilities and left six soldiers dead.
The soldiers were part of a military exercise called Vukuhlome that was taking place in the SA Army Combat Training Centre.
“It was reported that six soldiers of the South African Army lost their lives during this incident, and three were injured with second-degree burns [and] have been evacuated to the nearest hospital,” the SANDF said in its statement.
“The names of the deceased soldiers will be released once the next of kin have been informed.”
It added that the fire destroyed camping equipment and vehicles of the army.
“The fire brigade are doing everything in their power to extinguish the fire which has resulted in destroying camping equipment and vehicles.”
When the exercise was about to start, four members of the army died when their military vehicle overturned on its way to Lohatla from Upington.
Before that, a submarine disaster off the Western Cape coast left three navy officers dead.
sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za
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