UPDATE | More than 70 people dead after fire breaks out at ‘informal settlement’ inside Joburg building

At least 73 people have died and more than 50 others were injured after a fire broke out at a building in the Johannesburg CBD on Thursday morning.

Johannesburg Emergency Management Services spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said the fire that gutted the building, on the corner of Albert and Delvers streets, started around 01:30.

He said firefighters had evacuated the building’s occupants on arrival.

Mulaudzi said the death toll may increase because there was an informal settlement inside the building which may have resulted in people being trapped while trying to flee.

“Every floor has an informal settlement, and those that were trying to evacuate were trapped because of the structures between the floors,” he added.

“There is a huge possibility that the body count could be over 60 because we are going from floor to floor.

“We have informed people who are at the scene looking for their relatives that chances of finding them alive are very slim.”

Those injured in the blaze were taken to hospital and officials from the City of Johannesburg Disaster Management have begun relief efforts for those affected.

The cause of the fire has not yet been established.

*EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to reflect the swiftly changing death toll. It is now 73 (as at 10:30 on 31 August 2023)