Johannesburg building fire kills at least 73 people, many believed to be homeless

A nighttime fire ripped through a rundown five-storey building in Johannesburg that was occupied by homeless people and squatters early Thursday, killing at least 73 people, said emergency services in South Africa's biggest city.

Seven of the victims were children, and the youngest was one year old, according to an emergency services spokesperson.

As many as 200 people may have been living in the building, witnesses said.

Emergency crews expected to find more victims as they worked their way through the building, a process slowed by the conditions inside. Dozens of bodies were lined up on a nearby side road, some in body bags, and others covered with silver sheets and blankets.

Another 52 people were injured in the blaze, which broke out after 1:30 a.m. in the heart of Johannesburg's central business district, Johannesburg Emergency Services Management spokesman Robert Mulaudzi said.

Mulaudzi referred to the structure as a "hijacked building," a term used for abandoned and broken-down buildings common in some areas that have been taken over by people desperately seeking some form of accommodation.

Mgcini Tshwaku, a local government official, said there were indications that people lit candles and fires inside the building for light and to keep warm in the winter cold. Officials were looking into the cause of the blaze but Tshwaku said the initial evidence suggested it started with a candle.

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As the fire raged, some occupants got trapped behind locked gates at the exits, Tshwaku said, and it was clear there was no proper fire escape routes.

"People couldn't get out," he said.

City of Johannesburg officials were scheduled to hold a news conference on Thursday afternoon.

Mulaudzi said the death toll was likely to increase and more bodies were likely trapped inside the building. The fire took three hours to contain, he said, and firefighters had only worked their way through three of the building's five floors by mid-morning.

"This is a tragedy for Johannesburg. Over 20 years in the service, I've never come across something like this," Mulaudzi said.

The building's interior was effectively "an informal settlement" where shacks and other structures had been thrown up and people were crammed into rooms, he said.