Man dies in caravan blaze in Alex
ALEXANDRA – An inquest docket has been opened, following the death of a man in a burnt-out caravan.
A Wynberg panel beating company’s employees are mourning the death of a colleague on the night of Good Friday in a caravan blaze in Alexandra under mysterious circumstances.
Except for accumulating refuse partly attributed to the ongoing strike by Pikitup workers, nothing remains of the rented caravan in which a man, Johannes Koekemoer (40), perished after it was consumed by fire on the corner of Rhodes and 3rd avenues.
The deceased had relocated from Woodmead to the township in January this year and was said to have integrated into the community.
Koekemoer was apparently seen mingling with other residents hours before he perished in an inferno which residents eventually extinguished using water buckets and a fire extinguisher.
A neighbour and employee of a business next to the deceased’s and who sometimes walked to work with him said the fire started at about 10pm and was horrific. The man, who requested anonymity, said that after the fire was put out, only the metal frame of a mattress on which Koekemoer’s body was found and a partly burnt-out cupboard remained in the caravan.
The neighbour said his remains were in a section of the subdivided caravan he shared with another person who, it was claimed, disappeared as it burnt down.
One of deceased’s co-workers said some of the neighbours he sought answers from claimed the door to the deceased’s section was open when they doused the fire and his hands were folded behind his head – and not tied as initially thought – like someone who had been sleeping looking upwards, creating suspicions that he may have been dead before the fire. Others speculated this could have been done to conceal evidence.
The deceased’s foreman Dion Scanlen said they had been searching for him and discovered his remains at the Hillbrow Mortuary, presumably after Emergency Management Services and the police had attended to the scene at about 11.30pm, which was recorded as the time of death.
He said the incident was troubling as details were sketchy and the incident was initially reported as arson but later changed to murder. Scanlen said that he hopes the case will be thoroughly investigated.
He said the company would assist with the cremation and transporting his ashes to his parents in East London.
Alex police spokesperson Warrant Officer Moses Maphakela said an inquest docket had been opened.
