Deadly fire rages at multi-storey building in Johannesburg
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At least 73 people, including a one-year-old baby, have died in a devastating blaze that broke out inside a five-storey building in central Johannesburg on Thursday morning.
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.
Around 52 people have been injured in the fire in Marshalltown as videos captured at the scene show raging flames consuming the lower level of the building.
A search-and-recovery operation is underway as authorities said they were expecting the death toll to rise.
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.
‘I don’t know what happened to my brother’
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.
Aftermath of the deadly blaze that broke out in a Johannesburg building around 1.30am on Thursday
Seven of 73 known victims are children
Some of the people may have died after they threw themselves out of windows to escape the deadly blaze, a local government official said.
Seven of the 73 known victims were children, the youngest a one-year-old, according to an emergency services spokesperson.
Another 52 people were injured in the blaze in Johannesburg, which broke out in the pre-dawn hours of Thursday, Emergency Management Services said.
As many as 200 people may have been living in the building, witnesses said.
‘We’re dying in here'
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.
Watch: Mother searches for daughter as multiple fatalities in Johannesburg fire
A video captures a mother searching for her daughter after a devastating fire broke out in a building in Johannesburg this morning.
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMidGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmluZGVwZW5kZW50LmNvLnVrL25ld3Mvd29ybGQvYWZyaWNhL2pvaGFubmVzYnVyZy1maXJlLXRvZGF5LWJ1cm5pbmctYnVpbGRpbmctZGVhdGhzLWxhdGVzdC1iMjQwMjM2Ni5odG1s0gEA?oc=5
2023-08-31 12:30:06Z
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