On Thursday morning, Gauteng emergency services converged on a residential building in Johannesburg CBD where a deadly fire had broken out.
UPDATE: The death toll in the Johannesburg CBD fire has since risen to 73 since this article was last updated. See the original post below.
Johannesburg CBD fire: Here are the latest death toll updates
Speaking to the media on the scene of the carnage, Johannesburg EMS spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi confirmed rescue services responded to reports of a residential fire at approximately 01:30 on Thursday, 31 August 2023.
Mulaudzi revealed that the five-storey building, situated on the corners of Albert and Delvers Street, in Marshalltown, was a hijacked property.
From what we understand, the abandoned building was illegally occupied.
“We started evacuating people who were inside the building. While we [were] conducting fire-fighting operations, in the process we managed to recover about 20 bodies and about 43 people were treaded for smoke inhalation and also some various injuries,” Mulaudzi revealed.
The EMS spokesperson also confirmed that a one-year-old was included in the 20 casualties recorded thus far.
Mulaudzi also warned that the death toll may increase as search and recovery operations are underway “to make sure that each and every floor… to try and recover more bodies.”
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See footage taken from the scene of the fire below:
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While no links between the two incidents have yet been established, it’s worth mentioning that the Johannesburg CBD fire occurred hours after a 3.2 magnitude earthquake was recorded in the region.
According to Volcano Discovery, the earthquake’s epicentre was tracked 9.1km southeast of Randfontein, Gauteng, shortly after 21:24 on Wednesday.
This is a developing story.