Satirist Justin Nurse's two-year-old daughter Vanilla was killed when their car caught fire in the driveway of the family's Cape Town home, The Star reported on Friday.

The Honda Jazz she was sitting in caught alight in Noordhoek around 2pm on Wednesday as the family was unloading groceries after a shopping trip.

Vanilla's mother suffered burns trying to get her out of her car seat and her father tried, but failed to resuscitate her. She was declared dead on arrival at hospital.

Forensic expert Dr David Klatzow, who would investigate the matter, told The Star he would be looking for "possible sources of ignition, short circuits, point of ignition in the car and leaks in the fuel tank".

The police were also conducting their own forensic investigation.

Western Cape police spokesperson November Filander said an inquest docket had been opened and a post-mortem would be conducted on the girl.

Several years ago Nurse made headlines with his T-shirts, one of which satirised South African Breweries' "Black Label Carling Beer" slogan, which he turned into "Black Labour White Guilt". The company took him to court for trademark infringement. Nurse eventually won the case in the Constitutional Court.

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