Three children from Randfontein burnt to death on Sunday night after their house caught fire and a local fire engine did not have enough water to extinguish the blaze, it was reported on Tuesday.

The Beeld reported that Salome Jordaan, 11, Tanya Jordaan, 4, and Armand Jordaan, 3, died in the blaze, and their 14-year-old sister Adri, was seriously injured.

Kallie Hoffman, who lived in an outbuilding on the property, told the newspaper that emergency services took an hour to arrive at the scene.

Franz Olckers, a family friend, said they left after a few minutes to go and get more water at a local shopping centre.

The fire brigade returned half an hour later, but the house had burned down.

“Apart from the fact that the fire engine did not have enough water, it looked to me as if their pipes were full of holes – water was squirting through the sides of the pipes like fountains,” he said.

Neighbours said the Randfontein municipality had removed the family’s fuse box around two weeks ago, and that they had been using candles, one of which had presumably fallen over and caused the blaze. – Sapa