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According to the Associated Press on the 2nd, the number of deaths from a recent building fire in Johannesburg, South Africa, has risen to 76, and more than 80 people have been injured. At present, search and rescue personnel have completed the search of the inside of the building, and forensic doctors and pathologists have begun to identify the bodies of the victims, but many of the bodies have been charred by the fire, and the identification work is facing great difficulties.
A spokesman for the Johannesburg emergency services said on the 1st local time that three searches have been carried out on each floor of the 5-story building, and it is believed that all human remains at the scene have been found. Some of the victims' bodies have been taken to a nearby morgue, but as many of them have been burned beyond recognition, officials have appealed to families to help identify the victims.
Mbarasa, acting chief executive of the Forensic Pathology Service of Hauten, said: "This morning (1 September) we found that only 12 of the 74 bodies collected could be visually identified, so it will take some time to complete the process of collecting DNA samples from the remains. ”
Local officials said many of the victims were foreigners who were illegally in South Africa, making it more difficult to identify the remains.
The building in Johannesburg's central business district caught fire in the early hours of 31 August and is still under investigation and may have been caused by candles lit in the building or other heating equipment such as stoves. Local officials said the abandoned building was used as an illegal residence and had more than 80 compartments separated by flammable materials such as wooden panels, causing the fire to spread quickly. When the fire broke out, the safety doors inside the building were closed, eventually killing more people.
South African President Ramaphosa said during an inspection of the fire site that the fire was a wake-up call for the government. "We have to find out the root cause of the fire, which is a wake-up call," he said. We must start now to address housing in slums. ”
(Editor: Yin Zi)