At least 73 people have been killed in a fire in a multi-storey building in South Africa’s biggest city, authorities have said.
Officials said 52 more were injured in the blaze in Johannesburg, which broke out in the middle of the night.
Robert Mulaudzi, a spokesman for the emergency services, has warned the number of fatalities may rise further as more people could be trapped inside.
Firefighters have been currently going from floor to floor and had only worked their way through three of the building’s five storeys.
Some of those inside when the fire began threw themselves out of windows to escape, and may have fallen to their deaths.
Seven of the victims were children and the youngest was a year old.
The building in the central business district has been described as an “informal settlement” where homeless people had moved in looking for accommodation.
According to witnesses, at least 200 people may have been living there.
