The building in the central business district has been described as an “informal settlement” where homeless people had moved in looking for accommodation.
At least 74 people have been killed in a fire in a multi-storey building in South Africa’s biggest city, authorities have said.
Officials said 55 more were injured in the blaze in Johannesburg, which broke out in the middle of the night.
Robert Mulaudzi, a spokesman for the emergency services, has warned the number of fatalities may rise further – as more people could be trapped inside.
There were “obstructions” everywhere, and this would have made it difficult to escape.
Firefighters have been currently going from floor to floor – working slowly through the building’s five storeys.
“Over 20 years in the service, I’ve never come across something like this,” Mr Mulaudzi added.
Witnesses saw people throwing babies from the burning building in an attempt to save them – and at least one man jumped to his death.
Seven of the victims were children – and the youngest was a year old.
One woman who escaped the flames with her grown son and a two-year-old said she didn’t know what had happened to two other children in her family.
The building in the central business district has been described as an “informal settlement” where homeless people had moved in looking for accommodation. Some of the victims may have been renting rooms from criminal gangs.
According to witnesses, at least 200 people may have been living there – maybe more – and many of them were foreign nationals.
People looking for their loved ones have been warned that chances of finding them alive are “very slim”.
One woman looking for her daughter tearfully told reporters: “This is not a place where somebody can live. I was trying to get her to come back home so she could get back to the life she was living before.”
