At least 74 are dead, many of them homeless, as fire rips through a rundown building in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG — A nighttime fire ripped through a rundown apartment building mainly occupied by homeless people and squatters in Johannesburg early Thursday, leaving at least 74 dead, officials said. “Over 20 years in the service, I’ve never come across something like this,” Johannesburg Emergency Services Management spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said. A witness who lives in a building across the road said he saw others also throw babies out of the burning building and that at least one man died when he jumped from the third floor and hit the concrete sidewalk “head first.” Another witness who didn’t give his name told television news channel eNCA that he lived in a building next door and heard people screaming for help and shouting “We’re dying in here.” As the fire raged, some occupants got trapped behind locked gates at the exits and there were no proper fire escape routes, local official Tshwaku said. “I don’t have any home, and I don’t know what to do anymore.” In a statement, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said, “this is a great tragedy felt by families whose loved ones perished in this awful manner, and our hearts go out to every person affected by this event.” A spokesperson for Ramaphosa said he had offered the assistance of the national disaster management agency if needed, and the president later visited the scene having canceled a Thursday evening television address on the BRICS economic summit held in Johannesburg last week.