About 29 reed houses have been destroyed in a fire at Aussenkehr settlement in ||Kharas Region this week.

The acting Police Regional Crime Coordinator for ||Kharas, Detective Chief Inspector Jochobetha Angukku, confirmed the fire incident that broke out on Tuesday morning.

She said the cause of the fire is not yet known.

But, according to an eyewitness, the fire started burning from the roof of a reed house that was locked and quickly spread to other makeshift structures.

Most of the victims whose houses were burned down to ashes, Angukku said, were at work and others out of town when the fire started.

She added one fire victim, who was asleep but managed to escape when he was awakened by noise from bystanders.

Locals managed to put out the fire.

Displaced by the fire, five families of fire victims are lodging with friends and relatives.

No injuries or deaths were reported.

The Police Chief Inspector advised residents to refrain from charging batteries from solar panels as this could ignite sparks.

In addition, Angukku reminded people to know that reeds are highly flammable and should instead use corrugated iron zinc to construct their houses.

Late last year, a fire that ravaged reed houses to the ground claimed the life of one person.