LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) – At least 73 people have been reportedly killed, with many rendered homeless after fire ripped through a rundown five-story building that was used by homeless people, in Johannesburg.
According to a local Government official, some of the people living in the building, threw themselves out of windows to escape the blaze and might have died as a result of that.
Seven of the victims were children, the youngest a 1-year-old, according to Emergency Services Management spokesman, Robert Mulaudzi.
Another 43 people were injured in the fire, which broke out at about 1 a.m. in the heart of Johannesburg’s central business district, Mulaudzi said.
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Mulaudzi stated that the death toll was likely to increase and more bodies are likely trapped inside the building.
“The fire took three hours to contain, and firefighters had only worked their way through three of the building’s five floors by mid-morning.
“Over 20 years in the service, I’ve never come across something like this,” Mulaudzi said.
Mulaudzi added that Search teams found 64 bodies, and the chance of anyone being found alive hours after the fire broke out was “very slim.”
As many as 200 people may have been living in the building, witnesses said.
A witness who did not identify himself, 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.
Abandoned and broken-down buildings in the area are common and often taken over by people desperately seeking some form of accommodation. Authorities refer to them as “hijacked buildings.”