By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
At least 63 people died and 43 others were injured when a fire broke out at a building in the Johannesburg CBD on Thursday morning.
Joburg emergency services spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi says the fire broke out in the early hours of Thursday morning on the corner Alberts and Delvers streets.
“On arrival, firefighters started to evacuate all the people out of the building. While conducting firefighting operations, 47 people were confirmed dead on scene and 43 people were treated on scene, and later transported to various healthcare facilities for further medical care.
However the death toll has since climbed to 63.
“At this stage the cause of the fire incident is still a subject of investigations,” says Mulaudzi.
#JoburgUpdates Firefighters , @CityofJoburgEMS are currently attending to a building on fire in the Joburg CBD corner Delvers and Alberts street .Ten people confirmed dead and multiple patients treated on scene transported to various health care facilities for further medical… pic.twitter.com/OZTrajIbAq
— City of Joburg (@CityofJoburgZA) August 31, 2023
Officials from the City of Johannesburg Disaster Management have been activated to start facilitating relief for affected families.
Mulaudzi says the fire has been largely extinguished, but black smoke continued to billow from the charred apartment block.
The cause of the deadly blaze, which broke out in the former business district of South Africa’s economic hub, remains unclear.
Johannesburg is notorious for “hijacked” buildings that have been taken over by undocumented migrants.
Meanwhile, Mulaudzi said there were no reports of any damages or injuries after an earthquake hit several areas on the West Rand, including Johannesburg, on Wednesday night.
“At this stage, no major incidents throughout the City of Johannesburg have been reported at our emergency call centre.
“However, we will remain on high overnight to make sure that we can be able to respond to any area which might have been affected by the tremor,” Mulaudzi said.
The Council for Geoscience (CGS) has confirmed that the 2.7 magnitude earthquake occurred at around 9:44pm.
*Editor’s Note: This story will be updated to reflect the changing death toll. It is now 47 (as at 07:30 on 31 August 2023).