Panic as Ponta resorts burn

Hilda Fourie, Beeld
Pretoria - Three holiday resorts in Ponta do Ouro, Mozambique, were razed by fire after a woman apparently knocked over a candle in her sleep.

Nobody was killed or injured when The Whaler, Dolphin EnCOuntours and Simply Scuba burnt down on Friday morning. At least 110 bungalows and various other buildings were destroyed.
These three resorts - which mainly cater to the diving community - are located on the Mozambican coast, about 10km from the South African border.

"It took us years to get the resorts to the level they were at. And within an hour, nothing was left," said Hilton Jessiman, co-owner of The Whaler, on Sunday.
Stuart Mather-Pike, owner of Simply Scuba, said a man who was staying at Dolphin EnCOuntours was woken by a noise at about 03:00.
When he went outside, a woman came running out of her bungalow wrapped in a towel, screaming "I knocked it over, I knocked it over."
This woman had apparently been sleeping with a candle next to her bed. She reportedly knocked it over in her sleep, causing the thatch roof to catch fire. The woman hasn't been seen since.
Jessiman was woken by people at Dolphin EnCOuntours who were screaming that their camp was on fire.

The Whaler is directly next to Dolphin EnCOuntours.

'We lost everything'
People grabbed fire extinguishers, but due to the height of the flames and wind, they couldn't prevent the fire from spreading to The Whaler. From there, the fire spread to Simply Scuba.

At Simply Scuba they were able to save the office buildings and ensure that all the tourists and their belongings were safe. The parents of blind siblings, aged 15 and 16 respectively, were able to get them out of their bungalow in time.
At Dolphin EnCOuntours and The Whaler, people walked away with only the clothes on their backs.
"We lost everything. We don't even have clothes, nothing. It's an absolute nightmare," said Jessiman.
"In that moment there was no time to think. We did the best we could to save everything and get the people out. It's incredible that nobody was killed in a fire like that."
Most of the people who were staying at the three resorts - around 170 - returned to their homes shortly after the fire.
David Langley, who had been on a diving expedition with his friends at Simply Scuba, was also woken by a noise. When he looked outside, "people were running about and going mad."
He gathered his friends and their belongings and moved their vehicle out of the fire's path. By 07:30 they were already at the border post on their way back to Johannesburg.
Shane Coomans, head of training and travel at Scuba Scene in Pretoria, who also helped extinguish the fire, said the fire has brought an end to an era.

Officials from the Mozambican government are expected to investigate and assess the damage at the resorts on Monday.

It is estimated to be several million rands.