Death toll rises to 64 as Gift of the Givers team help firefighters in Joburg fire
By Neo Poho
The death toll of the Marshalltown fire has now left 64 people dead and nearly 50 others injured as the Gift of the Givers team has assembled to help the firefighters who have worked through the night to contain the blaze and rescue survivors.
Gift of the Givers' Imtiaz Sooliman said he would also liaise with the City of Johannesburg to see how best to assist the victims once the fire is under control and alternative accommodation has been sourced.
Robert Mulaudzi, City of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services spokesperson revealed that the building is one of the hijacked properties in the city centre, occupied illegally without owner consent.
“The building is hijacked, the people who stayed here did so illegally and it doesn’t have connecting of power, it wasn’t maintained, if so it must have been done illegally, they would use heating devices like paraffin and candles.
The people who lived here told us there is a mixture of residents who reside in this area, some are foreign nationals," Mulaudzi said.
Meanwhile, Mulaudzi also alluded that the chances of the number of fatalities and injured, increasing is very high because of the nature of the environment as the risk of one being trapped is very high.
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