Anxious wait for families as death toll in Johannesburg fire rises to 74

Survivors of a fire that ripped through a building in Johannesburg described jumping out of windows to escape the flames, as questions were raised about the dilapidated and dangerous state of the informal dwellings housing poor economic migrants in the city.

- Simon Allison

The death toll from one of the worst disasters in South Africa’s history rose to 74 yesterday afternoon after the blaze that took hold in the early hours of the morning. Dozens more are being treated for injuries in hospitals around the city.

Rescuers combed the building fl oor-by-fl oor for much of the day. The walls were blackened with soot and the windows all broken, some by the inferno itself and others by residents attempting to jump to safety.

An estimated 400 vulnerable people lived in the building on an informal basis, including extremely poor economic migrants and asylum seekers – predominantly from Malawi, Tanzania and Zimbabwe – and a number of South Africans.

Hundreds of people gathered behind police lines at the scene yesterday, hoping for word on friends and family members who lived in the building. “We have not been told anything,” said Mpathu Motani, who was waiting for news of her sister.

Omar Arafat, a resident of the building, said he was woken at about 1am by loud bangs and screams of “fire, fire”. He rushed for the building’s front door, but his path was blocked by flames. With no other avenue of escape, he broke a window in his third-storey room and jumped.