At least 74 people, including 12 children, have died in Johannesburg after being trapped in a dilapidated building in the center of South Africa’s economic capital that was destroyed by fire Wednesday night, according to the latest balance sheet from authorities.
“Among the 74 bodies (…) we counted 12 children,” Tembaletu Mpahlaza, head of the forensic service in Gauteng Province, which includes Johannesburg and the capital Pretoria, said at a news conference on Thursday.
Emergency services recovered the bodies of 24 women and 40 men. “Ten others remain unidentified because the degree of charring makes sex determination impossible,” Mpahlaza said. The previous report put the death toll at 73, with the remains of a child under the age of two already found.
Recall, local sources indicated that the burned building was one of the many “stolen” buildings in the city. These buildings belong to the council, but they have been abandoned for decades, and many of them have been taken over by criminal gangs who rent apartments to the poor and immigrants.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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