73 confirmed killed, 43 injured in South African building blaze

The Johannesburg Emergency Services has confirmed the death of at least 73 people and 43 injured in a fire incident that engulfed a five-storey building in the central Marshalltown neighborhood, in South Africa, on Thursday morning.

The JES, in a statement by its spokesman, Robert Mulaudz, said the fire which broke out in the early hours of the day, occurred in the Marshalltown neighbourhood which is being used as an informal housing for more than 200 homeless people.

“Search and recovery operations are ongoing even as firefighters at the scene say they had put out the flames,” Mulaudz said.

He added that those who were injured in the fire had been transported to various healthcare facilities for further medical care.

Read also: Fire razes South Africa’s parliament building

“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.

“Some of the people living in the building were reported to have thrown themselves out of windows to escape the blaze. Seven of the victims were children and the youngest was a 1-year-old.

“What 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.

“Latest update show that 73 bodies recovered and 43 injured. The service is still continuing with search and recovery,” Mulaudzi said.

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