JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
Some 73 bodies have been recovered from a multi-story building fire in South Africa's biggest city, as per a spokesperson. The death toll is rising rapidly.
An overnight fire in a
multi-story building in Johannesburg has left dozens of people
dead, Emergency Management Services spokesman Robert Mulaudzi confirmed on
Thursday.
On the social media
platform X, previously known as Twitter, Mulaudzi reported that 58 bodies had
been recovered while 43 others were injured.
At least one child was among
the dead, Mulaudzi said. Search and rescue operations are still taking place
and the death toll is expected to rise further.
Initially, 10 people were
confirmed dead in the early hours of the morning. However, the number of
fatalities increased rapidly as further bodies were recovered.
Multiple patients were being
treated on the scene and transported to various healthcare facilities,
officials said.
It was not immediately clear
what started the fire.
Television footage showed fire
trucks and ambulances outside the cordoned off red and white building with
burned-out windows.
While the fire had been
largely extinguished, smoke still seeped out of the windows of the building.
Strings of sheets hung out of some of the windows, authorities said.
They were not sure if people
had used those sheets to try and escape the fire or to save their
possesions.
Witnesses present at the
scene said as many as 200 people might have been living in the building in
a deprived area of South
Africa's largest city.
The building was an
"informal settlement" where homeless people took shelter without
any lease agreements, according to Mulaudzi.
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