At least 73 people have died as a result of a fire that overtook a five-story building early on Thursday in Johannesburg, South Africa’s Marshalltown neighborhood.
52 persons were also hurt, according to an update from Johannesburg emergency services, and they have been “transported to various healthcare facilities for further medical care.”
According to the city’s officials, the building in the Marshalltown neighborhood served as ‘informal’ lodging for 200 homeless persons.
Search and recovery operations were ongoing even as firefighters at the scene say they had put out the flames.
“So we are moving up towards the building, as I said earlier, we will be moving floor by floor to make sure that we clear all the floors. And then from there, as soon as that we are done, we hand over the scene to South African police to continue with their work” Robert Mulaudzi, Johannesburg Emergency Management Services spokesperson said.
According to reports, some residents of the building threw themselves out of windows to escape the fire. According to Mulaudzi, there were seven children among the victims, with the youngest being a 1-year-old.
“What do we need to highlight to our viewers at home is that they must just have a picture of an informal settlement inside a building So therefore, the chances of one being trapped inside that building is very much higher because of, you know, the partitions and all the things they’re using to create those structures” said Mulaudzi.
Two young children who were locked in an apartment in a run-down Johannesburg building in June perished in a fire that tore through the structure.
