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ET Aug. 31, 2023, 4:08 a.m. ET Johannesburg bureau chiefA fire tore through a building in downtown Johannesburg early Thursday, killing at least 63 people and injuring dozens of others, city officials said. Mgcini Tshwaku, a Johannesburg city councilman who oversees public safety, said that when he arrived at the scene, the structure was in flames and people were jumping out of it. People often light fires inside these informal settlements to keep warm, Mr. Tshwaku said. Many abandoned buildings in the city have been taken over because of a shortage of affordable housing, he said.
Persons: Tshwaku Organizations: South Locations: Johannesburg, Mgcini, South African
At Least 63 Dead in Building Fire in Johannesburg
  + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( John Eligon | ) www.nytimes.com   time to read: +1 min
ETA fire tore through a building in downtown Johannesburg early Thursday, killing at least 63 people and injuring dozens of others, city officials said. The authorities were still trying to determine what caused the blaze, which consumed a five-story abandoned building that had been overtaken by squatters and had become a sprawling informal settlement. Mgcini Tshwaku, a Johannesburg city councilman who oversees public safety, said that when he arrived at the scene, the structure was in flames and people were jumping out of it. People often light fires inside these informal settlements to keep warm, Mr. Tshwaku said. Many abandoned buildings in the city have been taken over because of a shortage of affordable housing, he said.
Persons: Tshwaku Organizations: South Locations: Johannesburg, Mgcini, South African
They arrived in desperation, unable to find anything better, safer or cheaper in a city with a severe shortage of affordable housing. They settled in a trash-choked building owned and neglected by the city of Johannesburg, paying “rent” to criminals. Flames devoured a structure that overcrowding, security gates, mounds of garbage and flimsy subdividing had turned into a death trap. Some victims leaped from upper windows of the five-story building rather than burn to death. And these urban squatter camps are routinely “hijacked,” residents say, by organized groups demanding payment.
Persons: Mgcini Locations: Johannesburg, South
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