Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

A white sheet fluttered from a 16-storey balcony of the Seaboard Hotel, one of Durban’s beachfronts landmark buildings, as screams for help punctuated the night air.

Below, hundreds of onlookers shouted back, urging the terrified family to flee their apartment and run to the roof of the burning building on the corner of West Street and Brickhill Road.

Other families hung out of the windows of their flats flashing their torches down at police in a desperate bid to attract rescuers’ attention as the building burned around them.

In a night of drama rescuers were finally able to bring more than 92 people, including babies and toddlers, to safety. Among those rescued was a seven-month-old baby, Loubeine Oosthuizen.

There was, however, no rest for firefighting crews who were called out again this morning to a fire at St Aidan’s Hospital, where a laundry room caught alight and patients had to be moved out of the path of the rapidly spreading fire.

No injuries were reported and the hospital fire was quickly contained.

At the Seaboard Hotel fire three helicopters – from the police, National Ports Authority and the SANDF – played a critical role and airlifted at least 92 people from the roof of the building.

Owen Singh, divisional commander for the eThekwini Fire Department, said this morning that five firefighters from his team were taken to hospital after being burnt in the fire.

“One of them is in the Intensive Care Unit at Alberlito Hospital.

“He sustained thoracic injuries and 25% of his body was burnt. The remaining four were taken to St Augustines Hospital,” said Singh.

Fighting searing heat from flames fanned by a strong wind and thick billowing smoke, firefighters, police, paramedics and helicopter pilots raced against time to save scores of people trapped in the building.

Rescuers on the scene described the inferno as “the biggest” they had attended to in the province in decades.

According to witnesses, the fire started around 7pm in one of the offices on the ninth floor.

As the firemen fought off the flames, emergency services officials used loud speakers and, speaking in English, Zulu and Portuguese, instructed those inside the building to run to the roof and to wait for help there.

Police spokesman Supt Vincent Mdunge said: “We are not aware of any fatalities but can only be sure once the entire building has been checked.”

He said the cause of the fire was not known and would only be established after an investigation.