Post by sevenofnine on Aug 31, 2023 11:04:56 GMT -5
THis is kinda broke on overnight cycles
At least 70 people have been killed in a fire at a five-storey building in Johannesburg’s central business district, emergency services officials say.
The fire alarm was raised at 1:30am on Thursday (23:30 GMT on Wednesday).
The cause of the fire remains unknown and the death toll is expected to rise, according to authorities.
Firefighters evacuated several people from the building and the injured were treated on the scene or transported to hospitals.
The inner-city area, once a big business hub, is now home to many refugees and migrants from African countries.
The building is “one of those hijacked, abandoned buildings in the inner city”, Robert Mulaudzi, a spokesperson for Johannesburg’s Emergency Management Services, told local media.
Relatives await news about loved ones caught in fire
Nkateko Mabasa, reporting for Al Jazeera from the scene of the fire, spoke to Elis Daras, a Malawian expat living in South Africa.
Daras received a phone call from friends at around 8am (06:00 GMT) on Thursday, informing her of a fire at a building where her husband, Solomon Daras lived.
The 37-year-old immediately rushed to the scene from Mayfair, a suburb west of the city, but has not heard any news about her husband since arriving outside the gutted building.
It has left her wondering if her husband is one of the 73 people who have been reported dead so far, or amongst the 52 injured.
“I haven’t heard anything about Solomon. We don’t know whether he is dead or at the hospital”.
While emergency services officials conducted their search of the building, Elis and a group of women waited on a pavement two streets away from the scene.
south africa fire
Residents sit near the fire-hit building that they lived in, in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa [Theme Hadebe/AP]
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4h ago (11:29 GMT)
Blaze demonstrates ‘chronic’ housing issues
Johannesburg is one of the world’s most unequal cities with widespread poverty, joblessness and a housing crisis.
It has about 15,000 unhoused people, according to the Gauteng provincial government.
Lebogang Isaac Maile, the head of Gauteng’s Department of Human Settlements, said some of the victims of the fire may have been renting from criminal gangs illegally collecting fees.
“There are cartels who prey on who are vulnerable people. Because some of these buildings, if not most of them, are actually in the hands of those cartels who collect rent from the people,” he told reporters at the scene.
Maile said the fire “demonstrates a chronic problem of housing in our province as we’ve previously said that there’s at least 1.2 million people who need housing.”
Play Video
Video Duration 01 minutes 57 seconds
01:57
S African youth joblessness a crisis as rich-poor gap widens
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4h ago (11:25 GMT)
Apartheid heritage building
A sign on the entrance to the gutted block shows it was a heritage building of South Africa’s apartheid past, where Black South Africans came to collect their “dompas” – documents that would enable them to work in white-owned areas of the city.
Play Video
Video Duration 13 minutes 14 seconds
13:14
South Africa’s poor struggle for land rights post-apartheid | UpFront
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4h ago (11:10 GMT)
City administration says building has undergone forensic investigation
The spokesperson for Johannesburg’s mayor has told Al Jazeera that the city administration is aware that many such “hijacked” buildings exist and are rented out.
“This particular building was previously acted upon by the city’s forensic and investigation services, [with] cases opened with the South African Police Service (SAPS) against those people who are identified as the criminal landlords,” spokesperson Mlimandlela Ndamase told Al Jazeera’s Fahmida Miller.
Ndamase said it was then the police’s responsibility to “ensure that they investigate and bring those people to court”.
The city owns about 30 buildings in a similar state and under similar conditions, while more than 100 are owned by private individuals and the private sector, he added.
south africa fire
People watch emergency services at the multistorey building in Johannesburg [Theme Hadebe/AP]
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5h ago (10:56 GMT)
Illegal landlords rented out rooms in ‘hijacked building’
According to reports in local media, Usindiso, the building that caught fire, is owned by the city of Johannesburg and was leased to a nongovernmental organisation that supports unhoused people.
Local reports said the building had since been “hijacked” by illegal landlords who rent rooms to people on an informal basis.
“This is an abandoned building, one that was hijacked and taken over by informal landlords,” Al Jazeera’s Miller reported from Johannesburg.
She said witnesses told her there were dozens of rooms on each floor with “about five people in each room”.
“So it really was overcrowded.”
Click here to share on social media
5h ago (10:40 GMT)
INTERACTIVE_SOUTH AFRICA_FIRES_AUG31_GMT_1015_UPDATED
(Al Jazeera)
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5h ago (10:28 GMT)
Building’s security gate was closed, official says
Mgcini Tshwaku, a member of Johannesburg city’s mayoral committee in charge of public safety, has said candles used for lighting inside the structure were a likely cause of fire.
He also indicated that the building’s main security gate was closed, making it difficult for residents to escape.
“Inside the building itself there was a (security) gate which was closed so people couldn’t get out,” said Tshwaku.
“Many burned bodies were found stashed at that gate.”
Authorities estimated more than “80 shacks” were set up inside.
“The fire spread very quickly affecting different levels of the building because of the combustible materials used,” said emergency services official Mulaudzi.
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6h ago (09:51 GMT)
Building was ‘highly populated’, locals say
Building resident Gift tells Al Jazeera that he saw people “jumping off the windows” to escape the blaze.
“It was difficult for them to escape the fire,” he said, adding that he believes the blaze started on the ground floor of the building and spread upwards, making it difficult for those on the upper floors to get away.
Fellow resident Karabo said the “highly populated” building was inhabited by locals as well as foreigners.
“There were illegal electricity connections, and water conditions were not that good,” he told Al Jazeera’s Johannesburg correspondent outside the building.
“There were a lot people from Malawi [on the lower floors], so when [the time] came for escaping, it was bad [for them]. … I feel it was the foreigners who died more.”
south africa fire
Locals gather at the scene of the fire [AP Photo]
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6h ago (09:37 GMT)
‘People were coming out of the windows’
Residents Karabo and Gift live in the same building that burned, but used a separate entrance to access it.
“We were actually in the other section, asleep around 4am, when we heard people screaming, ‘Fire! Fire! Fire! Emergency!’ Then we went out of the building and saw that there was a fire,” they told Al Jazeera’s Miller.
“People were rushing out, coming out of the windows,” they said.
www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/8/31/johannesburg-building-fire-live-news-south-africa
At least 70 people have been killed in a fire at a five-storey building in Johannesburg’s central business district, emergency services officials say.
The fire alarm was raised at 1:30am on Thursday (23:30 GMT on Wednesday).
The cause of the fire remains unknown and the death toll is expected to rise, according to authorities.
Firefighters evacuated several people from the building and the injured were treated on the scene or transported to hospitals.
The inner-city area, once a big business hub, is now home to many refugees and migrants from African countries.
The building is “one of those hijacked, abandoned buildings in the inner city”, Robert Mulaudzi, a spokesperson for Johannesburg’s Emergency Management Services, told local media.
Relatives await news about loved ones caught in fire
Nkateko Mabasa, reporting for Al Jazeera from the scene of the fire, spoke to Elis Daras, a Malawian expat living in South Africa.
Daras received a phone call from friends at around 8am (06:00 GMT) on Thursday, informing her of a fire at a building where her husband, Solomon Daras lived.
The 37-year-old immediately rushed to the scene from Mayfair, a suburb west of the city, but has not heard any news about her husband since arriving outside the gutted building.
It has left her wondering if her husband is one of the 73 people who have been reported dead so far, or amongst the 52 injured.
“I haven’t heard anything about Solomon. We don’t know whether he is dead or at the hospital”.
While emergency services officials conducted their search of the building, Elis and a group of women waited on a pavement two streets away from the scene.
south africa fire
Residents sit near the fire-hit building that they lived in, in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa [Theme Hadebe/AP]
Click here to share on social media
4h ago (11:29 GMT)
Blaze demonstrates ‘chronic’ housing issues
Johannesburg is one of the world’s most unequal cities with widespread poverty, joblessness and a housing crisis.
It has about 15,000 unhoused people, according to the Gauteng provincial government.
Lebogang Isaac Maile, the head of Gauteng’s Department of Human Settlements, said some of the victims of the fire may have been renting from criminal gangs illegally collecting fees.
“There are cartels who prey on who are vulnerable people. Because some of these buildings, if not most of them, are actually in the hands of those cartels who collect rent from the people,” he told reporters at the scene.
Maile said the fire “demonstrates a chronic problem of housing in our province as we’ve previously said that there’s at least 1.2 million people who need housing.”
Play Video
Video Duration 01 minutes 57 seconds
01:57
S African youth joblessness a crisis as rich-poor gap widens
Click here to share on social media
4h ago (11:25 GMT)
Apartheid heritage building
A sign on the entrance to the gutted block shows it was a heritage building of South Africa’s apartheid past, where Black South Africans came to collect their “dompas” – documents that would enable them to work in white-owned areas of the city.
Play Video
Video Duration 13 minutes 14 seconds
13:14
South Africa’s poor struggle for land rights post-apartheid | UpFront
Click here to share on social media
4h ago (11:10 GMT)
City administration says building has undergone forensic investigation
The spokesperson for Johannesburg’s mayor has told Al Jazeera that the city administration is aware that many such “hijacked” buildings exist and are rented out.
“This particular building was previously acted upon by the city’s forensic and investigation services, [with] cases opened with the South African Police Service (SAPS) against those people who are identified as the criminal landlords,” spokesperson Mlimandlela Ndamase told Al Jazeera’s Fahmida Miller.
Ndamase said it was then the police’s responsibility to “ensure that they investigate and bring those people to court”.
The city owns about 30 buildings in a similar state and under similar conditions, while more than 100 are owned by private individuals and the private sector, he added.
south africa fire
People watch emergency services at the multistorey building in Johannesburg [Theme Hadebe/AP]
Click here to share on social media
Advertisement
5h ago (10:56 GMT)
Illegal landlords rented out rooms in ‘hijacked building’
According to reports in local media, Usindiso, the building that caught fire, is owned by the city of Johannesburg and was leased to a nongovernmental organisation that supports unhoused people.
Local reports said the building had since been “hijacked” by illegal landlords who rent rooms to people on an informal basis.
“This is an abandoned building, one that was hijacked and taken over by informal landlords,” Al Jazeera’s Miller reported from Johannesburg.
She said witnesses told her there were dozens of rooms on each floor with “about five people in each room”.
“So it really was overcrowded.”
Click here to share on social media
5h ago (10:40 GMT)
INTERACTIVE_SOUTH AFRICA_FIRES_AUG31_GMT_1015_UPDATED
(Al Jazeera)
Click here to share on social media
5h ago (10:28 GMT)
Building’s security gate was closed, official says
Mgcini Tshwaku, a member of Johannesburg city’s mayoral committee in charge of public safety, has said candles used for lighting inside the structure were a likely cause of fire.
He also indicated that the building’s main security gate was closed, making it difficult for residents to escape.
“Inside the building itself there was a (security) gate which was closed so people couldn’t get out,” said Tshwaku.
“Many burned bodies were found stashed at that gate.”
Authorities estimated more than “80 shacks” were set up inside.
“The fire spread very quickly affecting different levels of the building because of the combustible materials used,” said emergency services official Mulaudzi.
Click here to share on social media
Sign up for Al Jazeera
Week in the Middle East
Catch up on our coverage of the region, all in one place.
E-mail address
Sign up
By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy
6h ago (09:51 GMT)
Building was ‘highly populated’, locals say
Building resident Gift tells Al Jazeera that he saw people “jumping off the windows” to escape the blaze.
“It was difficult for them to escape the fire,” he said, adding that he believes the blaze started on the ground floor of the building and spread upwards, making it difficult for those on the upper floors to get away.
Fellow resident Karabo said the “highly populated” building was inhabited by locals as well as foreigners.
“There were illegal electricity connections, and water conditions were not that good,” he told Al Jazeera’s Johannesburg correspondent outside the building.
“There were a lot people from Malawi [on the lower floors], so when [the time] came for escaping, it was bad [for them]. … I feel it was the foreigners who died more.”
south africa fire
Locals gather at the scene of the fire [AP Photo]
Click here to share on social media
6h ago (09:37 GMT)
‘People were coming out of the windows’
Residents Karabo and Gift live in the same building that burned, but used a separate entrance to access it.
“We were actually in the other section, asleep around 4am, when we heard people screaming, ‘Fire! Fire! Fire! Emergency!’ Then we went out of the building and saw that there was a fire,” they told Al Jazeera’s Miller.
“People were rushing out, coming out of the windows,” they said.
www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/8/31/johannesburg-building-fire-live-news-south-africa
!!
