A locked gate inside the house prevented many from escaping.
At least 74 people died in an apartment building fire in Johannesburg, South Africa last night. Among the victims are 12 children. More than 50 people were injured in the fire. The scale of the tragedy is likely to increase, as it is believed that more victims will be found in the ruins of the house located in the center of Johannesburg as the clearing works progress.
The fire broke out in a dilapidated, abandoned and subsequently occupied house where, according to local estimates, about 200 people lived. Many of the residents were homeless people who had moved into an abandoned house to get off the streets. Most of the people who lived in the house were immigrants.
According to Johannesburg authorities, the tragedy affects at least 141 families. It is not known how many people were in the building when the fire broke out.
Some of the people died jumping from the windows of the burning house. They tried to save the children by throwing them out of the house.
– I lost my sister. I lost all my possessions. I wasn’t allowed to take anything with me because I was in a hurry to escape. I fought for my life. My sister had to leave her little daughter. My son-in-law broke the window and dropped the child out of the house. The people downstairs were able to catch the child, said a Malawian who lived in the house Omar Foart news agency Reuters.
At least one of the gates inside the house was reportedly locked when the fire broke out, preventing some people from escaping. Bodies were found near the gate.
– The escape route was blocked. There were a lot of people and a lot of smoke. People were suffocating. Many people died from the smoke. There were many people at the locked gate. Some of the gates were locked, said the eyewitness Kenny Bupe for Reuters.
Survivors are hardly found anymore
After the fire, the bodies had been moved to the street near the destroyed building. Some of the dead were in body bags, some were covered with sheets.
One of those saved from the fire was a woman who got out of the building with her two children.
– There was smoke everywhere. I ran away with my little child. I don’t have a home and I don’t know what to do now, the woman, who remained anonymous, told the news agency AP.
It took three hours to extinguish the fire.
It will take time for the rescue personnel to go through the five-story building. Finding survivors was considered highly unlikely.
The fire could have started from a candle
The residents had crammed their homes inside the maze-like house.
According to the authorities, many people burned candles and even open fires in the house to keep themselves warm. The cause of the fire is not clear, but according to the authorities, the fire may have started from a candle.
In the center of Johannesburg, there are many abandoned apartment buildings in poor condition. People who have no other place to live have often moved there. The apartment building that burned was owned by the City of Johannesburg.
The police chief who spoke at the scene of the fire Elias Mawelan according to Johannesburg’s downtown area, there are approximately 700 buildings in poor condition that have been abandoned by their owners. The police chief demanded that the city authorities act to fix the problem.