November 18, 2005
By Rose Setshoge
A MOTHER gave birth to twins - a girl and a boy - three months early during a massive fire in Zamimpilo informal settlement, next to Riverlea in west Johannesburg.
The blaze, caused by a paraffin stove, began at about 6.30pm last night. Emergency services personnel were on the scene to put out the fire, when they were called by residents who thought their neighbour was having a miscarriage.
Firefighters and paramedics were just 300 metres from the mother's shack. Paramedic Malcolm Midgley, who is also spokesperson for Johannesburg emergency management services, went to the rescue - and became a hero.
He grabbed his first aid bag filled with medical equipment and ran to the shack, where he found the mother had just given birth to twins, three months early. She was in the dark and was trying to light a candle.
The baby boy was having difficulty breathing, while the baby girl was not breathing at all.
Midgley resuscitated the girl, and then the boy because of his poor breathing. Paramedic Kelvin Anthony helped to save the twins' lives.
"I thought she was not going to make it, but she started screaming and that made me happy," Midgley said.
The twins, weighing just 1,2 kilograms each, were wrapped in blankets and placed in two tomato boxes serving as makeshift cribs, before they were taken to hospital.
They are in a stable condition at Coronation Hospital in Coronationville, but are both in incubators.
Midgley said the mother also had a two-year-old son. She was in her twenties, and did not know that she was expecting twins because she had not visited a clinic or hospital during her pregnancy.
There are 1 000 shacks in Zamimpilo informal settlement, but the fire affected only 60.
Those whose homes had burned down were given food and taken to the local community hall by their neighbours. Some, however, began rebuilding their shacks that same night.
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