Sniffer dogs search for clues in ashes of deadly South African fire

JOHANNESBURG - Police with sniffer dogs on Friday searched through the gutted remains of a Johannesburg apartment block as the authorities stepped up investigations into the cause of a fire that killed more than 70 people.

Officers used razor wire to cordon off areas around the run-down five-storey building that was destroyed in a blaze in the early hours of Thursday in one of South Africa’s worst such disasters in living memory.

Most of the bodies were burned beyond recognition and investigators will have to rely on DNA samples from relatives to identify them, said Mr Thembalethu Mpahlaza from Gauteng province’s Forensic Pathology Services.

Only 12 of the 74 bodies recovered so far were identifiable by sight, he added.

“I am devastated,” said block resident Wambali Kaunda, who lost his brother and niece in the fire. “We have been told that if you are able to identify your family members, then you will be able to collect the bodies.”

He said he was on the first floor not far from the exit when the fire broke out, so managed to escape.

Many of the residents were immigrants and foreign workers. Malawi’s Foreign Ministry said over 20 of its citizens died in the blaze.

‘Hijacked buildings’

On one side of the building, three bedsheets that people had tied to windows to help them escape flapped in the wind. Below lay a mattress that someone had dropped to try to break their fall.

Mr Thabiso Phafudi stared up at a blackened wall and shook his head, while his mother Matsupa broke down in tears.

“My mother’s sister died in there,” he said. “The building was unsafe... I just never thought it could catch fire.”

While household fires are common in Johannesburg, especially in poor areas, the incident has highlighted a housing crisis in one of the world’s most unequal cities with widespread poverty and joblessness.

The apartment block is owned by the municipal authorities, but officials have struggled to provide a clear picture of who lived there, saying the block had been “invaded and hijacked” by unknown groups.

A provincial official said on Thursday some of those who died may have been renting from, or were being extorted by, criminal gangs in the so-called “hijacked buildings” syndicates.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday the fire was a “great tragedy” and a wake-up call for South Africa to tackle its inner-city housing crisis. REUTERS