An investigation is underway into the cause of a fire that engulfed a rundown apartment building in Johannesburg, South Africa overnight.
At least 74 people were killed and dozens others injured.
(Courtesy Daily News Egypt)
The fire erupted at around 1 in the morning Thursday.
It gutted this multi-storey building housing homeless people and squatters.
More than 12 hours after the blaze broke out, the charred building was still smouldering.
Some residents reportedly threw babies out of windows to others waiting below as they scrambled to flee.
One resident recalled a harrowing moment, "My in-law, she just hit the window and threw the daughter outside."
In the aftermath, at least 74 people lay dead while more than 50 others were injured.
The death toll is expected to rise as firefighters are still sifting through the remnants of the building.
At least 12 of those killed were children with the youngest a 1-year-old.
Sources close to the initial investigation say the fire may have started with a candle that residents used for light and to keep warm.
Police say at least 200 people were living in the building owned by municipal authorities.
But officials insist authorities leased it to a charity for displaced women, and that some rooms were rented out by criminal gangs.
The building, known as "Usindiso", is a heritage site which was once an administrative centre during the apartheid era.
Meantime, the president offered condolences in a televised address.
Cyril Ramaphosa told the masses, "Our hearts go out to every person who is affected by this disaster. And I do hope that the investigations into the fire will enable communities and and authorities to prevent a repeat of such a tragedy."
A terrible tragedy that prompted Ramaphosa to visit the site in person where he called it "a wake-up call."
"We've got to address this problem and root everything else, root out those criminal elements because it is these types of buildings that are taken over by criminals who then levy rents on vulnerable people and families who need and want accommodation in the inner city," he vowed.
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