Congo tragedy: SA family coming home

A South African woman and her two daughters will be touching down on South African soil later this evening following an horrific ordeal in the Republic of Congo.

Judith Obambe and her family were left homeless when a fire at an arms depot in Brazzaville sparked numerous explosions over a week ago.

Over 200 people died in the disaster. Thousands of others in close-by houses and schools were also injured.

The explosions even shattered windows in Kinshasa, the capital of neighbouring country Democratic Republic of Congo, across the river from Brazzaville.

Obambe will be flying back to SA with KZN based organisation Gift of The Givers which has been carrying out relief operations in the capital.

Her Congolese husband and her eldest daughter will remain in the city.

Gift of the Givers' Imtiaz Sooliman says they're expected to arrive in SA at around 6pm this evening.

"The husband had requested that his wife and two children go back to South Africa for trauma counselling and to stay in a better environment, until he can rebuild his health and get a new house because he doesn't want his wife or kids to live in the refugee camps."

Sooliman says while their rescue team and doctors are also leaving, Congo's president will send two cargo planes to collect some 70-tons of aid later this week.

(Photo: Sky News)

- East Coast Radio