At least 64 people died when a nighttime fire ripped through a rundown five-story building in Johannesburg that was used by homeless people, emergency services said Thursday.
At least 64 people died when a nighttime fire ripped through a rundown five-story building in Johannesburg that was used by homeless people, emergency services said Thursday.
Some of the people living in the building in South Africa’s biggest city threw themselves out of windows to escape the blaze and might have died because of that, a local government official said. Seven of the victims were children, the youngest a 1-year-old, according to an emergency services spokesperson.
Another 43 people were injured in the blaze, which broke out at about 1 a.m. in the heart of Johannesburg’s central business district, Johannesburg Emergency Services Management spokesman Robert Mulaudzi said.
Abandoned and broken-down buildings in the area are common and often taken over by people desperately seeking some form of accommodation.
