At least 73 people have died and dozens are injured as a result of a fire that occurred on Wednesday night in the central business district of Johannesburg, the largest city in South Africa. The authorities have not yet established the causes of the fire in this five-story building.
"The latest update is 73 dead and 52 injured. The search and recovery operation is still continuing" for victims, said the spokesman for the Johannesburg Emergency Management Services, Robert Mulaudzi.
Mulaudzi explained that the firefighters were alerted to the fire around 01:30 local time (23:30 GMT on Wednesday). Among the deceased is "a child who could be between one and two years old" and "the search mission is still ongoing," he said.
"It is a five-story building that caught fire in the early hours of Thursday. We managed to evacuate the people inside as soon as we arrived, while we carried out firefighting operations," the spokesperson explained.
However, Mulaudzi warned that the death toll was likely to rise because "on each floor there is an informal settlement," and the people rescue services were trying to evacuate "were trapped by the structures between the floors." .
According to Mulaudzi, the fire has already been contained but "extinguishing operations" continue on Albert Street, where the property is located and there are lines of fire trucks and ambulances.
