WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2007-08-01 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
Joburg businessman Bruce Sneddon, 35, whose fishing weekend was turned into a nightmare by the fires that ravaged Mpumalanga, survived for several hours before he died of his burns.
Sneddon had planned to spend the weekend trout-fishing with his partner Fiona Ferguson, 37. But instead both perished in a blaze that ripped across the Machado Stud Trout Farm near Machadodorp during the early hours of Saturday morning.
Jaco van Jaarsveld, a close friend of the couple, said Sneddon and Ferguson had left Joburg on Friday afternoon for a weekend away.
It is believed they were awakened about 2am on Saturday by a fire raging on the farm where they were staying.
Drinie Alant, who owns the farm with her husband Arthur, on Monday told how the couple had died in the blaze.
“I don’t know how, but we have to pick up the strength to move forward,” she said.
According to Alant, Sneddon and Ferguson had died while trying to escape the fire that had razed about 800 hectares of property, including two houses, a storeroom, seven vehicles, a plantation and a number of animals.
Sneddon, co-owner of media brokers Bruce Wayne Enterprises, and Ferguson, who worked for radio media sales house Radmark, were among a group of holidaymakers.
“We had 14 guests staying in the cottages, and when they saw the fire, they all panicked. They all jumped into their cars and drove in a convoy into the veld. But they didn’t know the place and they all got stuck,” Alant said.
She said the panic-stricken guests then abandoned their cars and started fleeing on foot. Most made it into some of the 18 trout dams on the farm, but Sneddon and Ferguson apparently didn’t see the nearest dam through all the smoke and continued running.
“Most of the people ran for the dams, but the two ran past the dam and were caught and burnt,” Alant said tearfully, explaining that she was unable to continue recounting the events that have devastated the farm. “It’s too strenuous to talk.”
Van Jaarsveld said the couple were unable to see where they were going as visibility at that time was estimated to be only about a metre, with the wind and noise of the fire disorienting them further.
“We know that two of the guys ran towards a dam in the area, but in the chaos, Fiona and Bruce ran off in a different direction and got trapped by flames,” he said.
“A short while afterwards they found Bruce lying in a ditch. He was badly burnt but he was still alive, so they pulled him into the dam. They spoke to him, but obviously his throat was seared and he couldn’t talk all that much but they did their best to keep him alive,” said Van Jaarsveld.
“Some local kids came and helped them find a vehicle which they used to drive to Machadodorp to get an ambulance. The ambulance then took Bruce to Belfast Hospital, but he died on the way there.”
Ferguson’s charred body was found a while later.
Van Jaarsveld added that Sneddon and Ferguson had been together for two years and shared a townhouse in Fourways.
“Fiona was one of the most colourful people I have ever met. She was super-intelligent and everybody loved her. She loved photography and was quite talented at it,” said Van Jaarsveld.
Of Sneddon, he said: “He was one of those people where what you see is what you get: a genuine, genuine guy. Everything he did, he did with passion, whether it was fishing or hanging out with friends. He was always happy and had a smile on his face.”
The couple’s relatives and friends are battling to deal with the unexpected deaths.