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Many buildings in the centre of the South African city of Johannesburg, where a horrific fire has killed more than 70 people, are deemed unfit to live in.
Yet these old blocks, abandoned by their owners or the city authorities, are full of families often paying rent to criminal gangs who run them.
The buildings, which lack running water, toilets or a legal electricity connection, are then said to have been "hijacked".
Scores of people often live in one room, often former offices. Fires are common - though nothing on the scale of the one that went up in flames overnight.
A firefighter at the scene of the five-storey building, in an area called Marshalltown, said many shack-like structures had been erected inside - making things even more combustible.
People tend to cook on paraffin stoves and during the cold winter months - June to September - fires are often lit in large metal drums with wood and other scavenged items thrown in for fuel.
Candles are often used and the numerous illegal electricity connections rigged up to provide power for those inside also pose a fire hazard. It is common to see satellite dishes hanging by windows.
One person who escaped the recent inferno told the BBC the fire had started during a power cut - which happen frequently throughout the country.
She said the cut in the electricity supply triggered a bunch of gunshot-like sounds followed by a massive explosion.
Reuters
The woman asked not to be named - this is because the occupants of these buildings are there illegally, and they tend to shun the authorities and media.
Two years ago, photographer Shiraaz Mohamed gained the trust of some residents of an infamous building in Johannesburg's Hillbrow area - and published a piece on the BBC about their lives.
They told him about the unsanitary conditions - the smell of faeces permeating the corridors as occupants relieved themselves in the building's empty spaces or sometimes on the pavement.
Those living there, who did their best to keep their own areas clean, were a mix of poor South Africans as well as migrants from across Africa - some of whom lack documents and are in the country illegally.
The city centre of Johannesburg is a dangerous place to be - with high levels of crime. It is still referred to as the Central Business District (CBD), though many businesses have long fled.
This happened around the time that white-minority rule ended in 1994. During apartheid, the government imposed strict racial segregation of cities - pushing black and mixed-raced communities into townships outside.
When apartheid was dismantled, those who had been pushed to the edges of cities could move in. Poor people looking for affordable housing moved close to where they worked to avoid high transport costs.
With some businesses and wealthier residents of the CBD moving to the more affluent northern suburbs, including the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, old commercial buildings in the city centre were turned into low-rent apartments.
AFP
The newly liberated country also attracted migrants, some fortune-seekers, some refugees - many of whom settled in this cheap housing the city centre.
South Africa faced and still faces a critical housing shortage - a legacy of apartheid and one of the governing African National Congress's greatest challenges.
The country remains one of the most divided and unequal societies in the world.
In Johannesburg, the country's largest city, 15,000 people were estimated to be homeless earlier this year, the provincial department told fact-checking website Africa Check.
Following the exodus of businesses, the CBD became a no-go area with a reputation for crime and violence, and some buildings were reportedly abandoned by owners as rates owed to the council exceeded their value.
Johannesburg city authorities began efforts to rejuvenate things more than a decade ago. They declared building unfit for human habitation and - often after court cases - rehoused some of the residents.
By law property owners must offer a building's occupants alternative accommodation before evicting them, even if they are undocumented migrants.
Some parts of the CBD have been redeveloped - with private investment.
AFP
Yet as derelict buildings proliferated - some owned by the council and tied up in legal wrangles - criminal syndicates spotted an opening to make money, further exploiting those desperate for accommodation.
The rent can be fairly high - but these kind of landlords overlook a bad credit history or the fact that the tenants have no official documents.
It is a tough life for those living in a hijacked building. Drugs and addiction proliferate - and outsiders are at risk when they venture in.
Yet for the occupants, when they open up about their lives, it is clear the abandoned buildings offer a roof over their heads and a chance to dream of a better future.
Some of the people living in a maze of shacks and other makeshift structures inside the building threw themselves out of windows to escape the fire – one of the worst in South Africa’s history.
Reports suggest as many as 200 people lived in the building, which was an “informal settlement” housing homeless people while they looked for permanent accommodation.
Officials on Thursday said some of the victims may have been renting rooms in the building from criminal gangs.
Seven of the victims were children, including the one-year-old, according to an emergency services spokesperson.
Survivors recall escaping the blaze that killed 73: ‘You couldn’t see anything’
Leo, a 25-year-old who survived the blaze, had been living on the second floor.
He escaped along with his mother via the stairs.
“People were just running away. It was dark and there was smoke. You couldn’t see anything,” he said.
At least one person jumped to their death, said Thando le Nkosi Manzini, a student who saw the blaze from the street. “I saw a guy jumping from the fourth floor,” he told Reuters.
The blaze, which started at around 1.30 am on Thursday, killed at least 73 people and injured 43, the municipal government said, in one of South Africa’s worst such tragedies in living memory.
South African president Ramaphosa says Johannesburg fire deaths ‘a great tragedy’
South African president Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday called the more than 70 deaths in an apartment fire in Johannesburg “a great tragedy” and said he hoped an investigation would help prevent a repeat of the incident.
Ramaphosa called the building fire deaths a “great traged”
Johannesburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda has reportedly said more than 300 families displaced by the apartment fire, that killed 73 people, will be allocated accommodation “irrespective of nationality”.
According to a report by South African newspaper TimesLIVE, Mr Gwamanda said: “There will be social relief. We have already identified three buildings that the surviving victims will be allocated to.
“We have agreed that we are not going to deal with people on the basis of nationality. At this point, everyone who is affected will be given humanitarian assistance.
“This is a tragedy that affects people, irrespective of nationality.”
‘Vulnerable’ fire victims may have rented building rooms from criminal gangs
Johannesburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda told reporters the building that was devastated by a huge fire on Thursday was owned by the municipal authorities and had been leased to charity for displaced women but had “ended up serving a different purpose,” without giving further details.
Lebogang Isaac Maile, the head of the Human Settlements department for Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg, later said some of the victims may have been renting from criminal gangs illegally collecting fees.
“There are cartels who prey on who are vulnerable people. Because some of these buildings, if not most of them, are actually in the hands of those cartels who collect rental from the people,” he told reporters at the scene.
At least 73 people were killed in the fire and officials said the death toll could rise, as the search for more bodies continues.
A young girl, who is still searching for her brother in the aftermath of the Johannesburg building fire, told a local newspaper she’s scared because she doesn’t know what happened to him.
Jiya Mcreen told South African newspaperTimesLIVE her brother lived in the building with three other friends but her brother’s phone has been switched off since this morning and she can’t reach him.
“I am scared, I’m feeling fear. I don’t know what happened to my brother.”
What we know so far about the devastating fire that killed 73
If you’re just joining our coverage of the devastating building fire that erupted in Johannesburg early Thursday morning, here’s everything we know so far:
Photos show firefighters working to extinguish deadly building blaze
Photographs coming in from the scene of the deadly building fire that killed at least 73 people in Johannesburg show people gathering to watch rescue efforts as firefighters tried to bring the blaze under control.
People gather to watch rescue efforts at a multi-story building used by homeless people that caught fire, in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa,
People standing at a bonfire look on as unseen firefighters work at the scene of a fire in a building in Johannesburg on 31 August.
(AFP via Getty Images)
Aftermath of the deadly blaze that broke out in a Johannesburg building around 1.30am on Thursday
A nighttime fire ripped through a rundown five-story building in Johannesburg that was occupied by homeless people and squatters, killing at least 73 people early Thursday.
A witness who didn’t give his name told television news channel eNCA that he lived in a building next door and heard people screaming for help and shouting “We’re dying in here” when the fire started.
Mgcini Tshwaku, a local government official, said there were indications that people lit fires inside the building to keep warm in the winter cold.
Officials are looking into the cause of the blaze.
A new video has emerged of former Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in a vehicle addressing the camera, seemingly days before his reported death.
Sky News understands the clip was filmed mid-August, but it is unclear where it was recorded.
In the short video, posted on Wagner's Grey Zone Telegram channel, he says: "For those talking about whether I'm alive or not, how I'm doing, now it's the weekend, the second half of August 2023, I'm in Africa.
"For those who like to discuss my elimination, private life, income or other things - basically I'm fine."
He is seen wearing camouflage gear and a hat, as well as a watch on his right hand.
The weekend he references could be the 19 or 20 of August - three days before he was reportedly killed in a plane crash north of Moscow on 23 August, two months to the day after he led a failed mutiny against top Russian officials.
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The aborted rebellion, during which he demanded the ousting of defence minister Sergei Shoigu, was the biggest challenge to President Putin's rule since he rose to power in 1999.
Russia said it confirmed his death in the crash following genetic tests, but did not reveal the cause.
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He was buried privately in a "farewell ceremony" in a St Petersburg cemetery on Tuesday, according to his press team.
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Pictures from the Porokhovskoye cemetery showed Prigozhin's dark granite tombstone surrounded by an array of flowers, mostly red roses. He is believed to have been buried next to his father.
In a statement on Telegram, the Wagner chief's press service said: "The farewell to Yevgeny Viktorovich [Prigozhin] took place in a closed format. Those who wish to say goodbye may visit Porokhovskoye cemetery."
Other cemeteries in the Russian city had previously been mentioned in media reports as likely sites for Tuesday's burial.
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Russia accuses West over strikes
Secrecy had surrounded the funeral arrangements and the Kremlin said earlier that Mr Putin would not attend.
The nine other people killed included two top Wagner Group figures - Prigozhin's right-hand man Dmitry Utkin and head of logistics Valery Chekalov - as well as four of his bodyguards and three crew members.
At the Severnoye cemetery in St Petersburg on Tuesday, members of Chekalov's family were joined by dozens of people, some of whom were believed to be Wagner mercenaries and workers from Prigozhin's business empire.
North Korea has performed a simulated "scorched earth" nuclear strike on targets across South Korea.
The exercise is in response to joint drills that have been held by South Korea, Japan and the US this week - which Pyongyang repeatedly denounces as a rehearsal for war.
State media set out how the North envisions a potential war in unusual detail.
Image:Kim visits a training centre for soldiers
The drill rehearsed repelling a sudden invasion, striking its neighbour with nuclear weapons, then sweeping in to occupy territory.
In the scenario, "simultaneous super-intense strikes" also targeted military command centres, ports, operational airfields and other targets in South Korea.
Hours after the US deployed B-1B bombers for allied air drills on Wednesday, North Korea also fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea.
That late-night launch followed two unsuccessful attempts to put a spy satellite into orbit.
More on Kim Jong Un
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Kim Jong Un's secretive state has been condemned by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who told reporters: "These conducts pose threats to peace and stability of not only our country, but of the region and international community, and cannot be tolerated."
Image:Kim oversaw a strategic cruise missile test aboard a navy warship earlier this month
The Japanese government has stressed it will intercept North Korean missiles if they fly over its territory.
Kim has been urging his military to become increasingly ready - describing leaders of the US, South Korea and Japan as "gang bosses" who increase the risk of nuclear war in the region.
"We are moving floor by floor conducting these body recoveries," Mr Mulaudzi told local broadcaster ENCA.
Handout via Reuters
A video posted to the platform X, formerly known as Twitter, by Mr Mulaudzi showed fire trucks and ambulances outside the building with burnt out windows.
Photos from the scene showed covered bodies lined up near the burned building.
The building is located in what was formerly a business district in South Africa's economic hub. It was being used as an informal settlement, Mr Mulaudzi said.
Local reports say the inner city neighbourhood is infamous for 'hijacked' buildings, a term used in South Africa to refer to buildings illegally taken over by undocumented migrants.
They also suggest the occupants of the building were mostly migrants from other African countries.
In the wake of the fire, many South Africans on social media have condemned the online xenophobic attacks that some have made against the victims and survivors of the fire.
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Hurricane Idalia made landfall as a Category-3 on Wednesday morning bringing “catastrophic storm surge” to parts of Florida.
The hurricane slammed into the Big Bend area, near Keaton Beach, just before 8am (Eastern Time) with 125mph winds. Storm surge could rise as high as 16 feet in some places.
Idalia rapidly intensified to a Category 4 hurricane overnight before being downgraded as it reached Florida’s west coast where thousands of residents had been ordered to evacuate. Authorities were now in search-and-rescue mode for those in harm’s way who had failed to heed evacuation warnings.
The storm is now a Category-2 after losing power as it moves inland towards Georgia and South Carolina. However the National Hurricane Center warned that Idalia remains “extremely dangerous” and forecasters warned of “catastrophic storm surge”.
“Water levels along the coast of the Florida Big Bend are rising rapidly,” read the latest NHC update.
Along the coastline, homes were underwater up to their rooflines and some structures, boats and docks were being swept away by the power of the storm surge. In Cedar Key, a small island community on the Gulf coast, the storm surge had already reached 6ft.
Away from the coast, authories warned that high levels of rainfall could increase the chance of inland flooding.
Idalia’s impacts were being felt in areas devastated by Hurricane Ian less than a year ago such as Fort Myers. Ian killed 150 people and damaged 52,000 structures.
Some 240,000 customers in Florida and 12,000 in Georgia were without power on Wednesday morning as the powerful winds snapped utility lines. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis‘ press conference in Tallahassee was hit by a power cut as Idalia came ashore.
“Life-threatening” storm surge of 10ft-15ft was expected along with destructive waves between Aucilla River and Yankeetown. Tampa, the state’s third latest city, could see up to 7ft of water.
Hurricane Idalia seen from space on Wednesday morning as it made landfall in Florida
(NOAA/NHC)
“Hurricane Idalia will likely be an unprecedented event for many locations in the Florida Big Bend. Looking back through recorded history, NO major hurricanes have ever moved through the Apalachee Bay. When you try to compare this storm to others, DON’T. No one has seen this,” NWS Tallahassee office warned on Tuesday.
Evacuation notices were issued in at least 21 counties in western and central Florida with mandatory orders in places. Some 46 Florida counties are under a state of emergency.
The trajectory of Hurricane Idalia
(National Hurricane Center)
Tolls were waived on Florida highways to allow residents to quickly evacuate. Some 4,500 people were in Red Cross shelters across the state.
More than 30,000 utility workers were gathering to make repairs to the downed power lines, supported by the Army Corps of Engineers.
Tampa General Hospital, the city’s only Level 1 trauma centre located on an island in Hillsborough Bay, was being surrounded by “Aquafences” on Tuesday in attempts to keep out predicted storm surge.
In coastal Tarpon Springs, a community northwest of Tampa, 60 patients were evacuated from a hospital out of concerns of high water levels.
Governor DeSantis said on Tuesday that supplies of food, bottled water and tarps were on standby to move into affected areas and thousands of troops with the Florida National Guard had been activated.
He urged Floridians to heed the warnings, noting that even travelling a short distance could be life-saving.
“You do not have to leave the state. You don’t have to drive hundreds of miles,” he said.
“You have to get to higher ground in a safe structure. You can ride the storm out there, then go back to your home.”
President Joe Biden approved a federal emergency declaration for Florida on Monday. “Florida has my full support as they prepare for Idalia and its aftermath,” he wrote on X, formely known as Twitter.
Hundreds of flights were cancelled at Tampa International Airport while Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando said that it was operating under normal conditions but “closely monitoring” the storm. The company said it was closing the Typhoon Lagoon water park and minature golf areas due to the inclement weather on Wednesday.
Visitors to the Southernmost Point take risks while capturing the impacts of Hurricane Idalia as it passes the Florida Keys some 175 miles to the west, on Tuesday
While most weather models projected that Idalia was moving northeast and out into the Atlantic in the coming days, the Global Forecasting System, a US federal project, indicated that there was an outside chance that the hurricane could circle back and strike Florida for a second time early next week - but with much less power. Such looping is considered highly unusual for tropical storms but is not unprecedented.
Idalia may be the first major storm to hit Florida this hurricane season but it joins a long list of disasters in the United States and globally which are being amplified by the climate crisis.
Ocean temperatures have reached unprecedented highs this summer including in the Gulf of Mexico. Warming oceans fuel stronger tropical cyclones that bring more heavy rainfall and higher storm surge when they make landfall, according to Climate Central.
Idalia has already deluged western Cuba, particularly the province of Pinar del Rio which is also still recovering from Hurricane Ian last year. More than 10,000 people evacuated as up to four inches (10cm) of rain fell, leaving half the province without power.
The Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from 1 June to 30 November, is forecast to be above average this year.
This is a developing news story and this article is being updated
Six Russian regions and the occupied Crimean Peninsula were hit by what has been described as the biggest Ukrainian drone attack on Russian soil since the start of the war.
Drones hit an airport in Russia’s western Pskov region near the border with Estonia and Latvia, damaging at least four military cargo planes, authorities said.
Some of the planes are used for the war in Ukraine but the Kremlin also reportedly uses the Pskov airfield for the cargo planes that fly Vladimir Putin’s limousine whenever he travels abroad or long distances within Russia.
More drones were shot down over Oryol, Bryansk, Ryazan, Kaluga and the Moscow region surrounding the Russian capital, according to the defence ministry.
Russia’s foreign ministry said that the wave of Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian territory overnight “will not go unpunished”.
The attacks came as authorities in Kyiv reported at least two people killed in what they described as the heaviest Russian air strikes on the Ukrainian capital for months.
Lightning flashes as Tropical Storm Idalia forecast to hit Florida
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Hurricane Idalia has made landfall in Florida, hitting the Big Bend region as a “life-threatening” Category 3 storm.
The National Hurricane Center said in a 7.45am ET update that the “extremely dangerous Category 3” hurricane had made landfall, bringing maximum sustained winds of 125 mph, catastrophic storm surge and damaging winds to the Sunshine State.
In an early morning press briefing, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned that the hurricane was approaching as a category 4 storm. “Don’t mess with this storm. Don’t do anything that will put yourself in jeopardy,” he said.
The briefing itself was hit with a brief power outage as the storm had already plunged thousands of homes into darkness.
A terrifying forecast model has also shown that Hurricane Idalia could hit the state of Florida twice over the coming week. Global Forecasting System, a federal hurricane projection model, forecasts that Idalia will first make landfall on Florida’s big bend region on Wednesday morning.
Forecast shows Hurricane Idalia could hit Florida twice
A terrifying forecast model has shown that Hurricane Idalia could hit the state of Florida twice over the coming week.
Global Forecasting System, a federal hurricane projection model, forecasts that Idalia will first make landfall on Florida’s big bend region on Wednesday morning.
It will then travel up through north Florida and into Georgia and South Carolina, before heading back out into the Atlantic.
However, after that, the storm is forecast to turn southwest and head back toward Florida’s Atlantic coast to make landfall in the state for a second time on Monday.
Idalia is moving inland from Florida’s Big Bend region, the National Hurricane Center said in an udpate at around 8am ET.
“Hurricane #Idalia Advisory 15A: Eye of Idalia Moving Just Inland From the Florida Big Bend Coast. Catastrophic Storm Surge and Damaging Hurricane-Force Winds Continue,” the NHC tweeted.
Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Florida as a “life-threatening” Category 3 storm at around 7.45am ET.
The “extremely dangerous Category 3” hurricane is bringing with it maximum sustained winds of 125 mph, catastrophic storm surge and damaging winds to the Sunshine State.
Hurricane Idalia has made landfall in Florida, hitting the Big Bend region as a “life-threatening” Category 3 storm.
The National Hurricane Center said in a 7.45am ET update that the “extremely dangerous Category 3” hurricane made landfall, bringing maximum sustained winds of 125 mph, catastrophic storm surge and damaging winds.
Thousands of Florida inmates relocated from prisons ahead of hurricane
Around 4,000 inmates have been moved from prisons ahead of Hurricane Idalia making landfall in Florida.
The Florida Department of Corrections announced on Tuesday evening that inmates housed in facilities along the projected path of the major hurricane were being evacuated to facilities better equipped to handle the storm.
This included inmates from the following facilities:
Bradenton Bridge
Bridges of Cocoa
Bridges of Jacksonville
Bridges of Lake City
Bridges of Orlando
Bridges of Santa Fe
Cross City Work Camp
Dayton Beach CRC
Desoto Work Camp
Ft. Pierce CRC
Hardee Work Camp
Hernando CI
Jacksonville Bridges
Kissimmee CRC
Lancaster Work Camp
Largo Road Prison
Madison Work Camp
Miami North CRC
Opa Locka CRC
Orlando Bridge
Orlando CRC
Panama City CRC
Reality House
Re-entry of Ocala
Shisha House
St. Pete CRC
Suncoast CRC
TTH Bartow
TTH Dinsmore
TTH Kissimmee
TTH Tarpon Springs
Tallahassee CRC
Tomoka CRC
Tomoka Work Camp
Turning Point
Visitations have also been canceled at other facilities.
Ron DeSantis’ press conference is hit with brief power outage
Ron DeSantis’ press conference was hit with a brief power outage as the governor spoke about Storm Idalia wiping out power to homes across the Big Bend region.
The briefing went dark momentarily before a generator kicked in and lights came back on.
Around 50,000 homes across the state are currently without power while 100,000 homes have already had their power restored.
Officials warn that emergency services may not be able to reach people in storm
In the briefing, officials warned that emergency services may not be able to reach people in the midst of the storm.
Search and rescue operations are poised and ready to go as soon as the storm passes but – during the storm – residens were urged to look after their families and hunker down in their homes.
“We are here, we are ready. We will deploy recovery teams as soon as we can,” one official said.
Even after the storm passes, Mr DeSantis urged people to proceed with caution:
- Do not drive in flooded streets
- Assume all downed power lines are live
- Do not misuse generators (for risk of carbon monoxide poisoning)
