At least 73 people have died in a fire in a multi-storey building, believed to have been used by homeless people, in South Africa’s biggest city, emergency services said.
Some of the people may have died after they threw themselves out of windows to escape the blaze, a local government official said.
Seven of the victims were children, the youngest a one-year-old, according to an emergency services spokesperson.
A South African television station reported that the number had climbed to 12 children dead, although emergency services did not immediately confirm that.
As many as 200 people may have been living in the building, witnesses said.
Another 52 people were injured in the blaze in Johannesburg, which broke out in the pre-dawn hours of Thursday, Emergency Management Services said.
Spokesman Robert Mulaudzi said a search-and-recovery operation was under way and it was likely the death toll would rise.
Mr Mulaudzi said the death toll was likely to increase and more were likely trapped inside the building.
The fire took three hours to contain, he said, and firefighters had only worked their way through three of the building’s five floors by mid-morning.
Mr Mulaudzi said: “This is a tragedy for Johannesburg. Over 20 years in the service, I’ve never come across something like this.”
Authorities had yet to establish the cause of the fire but Mgcini Tshwaku, a local government official, said the initial evidence suggested it started with a candle.
Inhabitants used candles and fires for light and to keep warm in the winter cold, he said.
Firefighters were still making their way through the remnants of shacks and other informal structures that littered the inside of the derelict five-story building in the heart of Johannesburg’s central business district.
Smoke seeped out of the blackened building even though the fire was out, while twisted blankets and sheets hung like ropes out of shattered windows to show how people had used them to try and escape the flames.
Some of the survivors described how they jumped out of windows to escape the blaze, but only after tossing their children to others below.
Adam Taiwo, who managed to save his one-year-old son and himself, said: “Everything happened so fast and I only had time to throw the baby out.
“I also followed him after they caught him downstairs.”
Mr Taiwo said he did not know where his wife, Joyce, was.
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 a window on the third floor and hit the concrete sidewalk “head first”.
As many as 200 people may have been living in the building, witnesses said, including in the basement, which should have been used as a parking garage. Others estimated an even higher number of occupants.
Johannesburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda said 141 families were affected by the tragedy but could not say exactly how many people were in the building when the fire started.
Many of the people inside were foreign nationals, he said.
Another official said that identifying victims and tracing the missing would be hard as many were likely in South Africa illegally and had no South African documents.
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 Mr Ramaphosa said he had offered the assistance of the national disaster management agency if needed.
Johannesburg is rated as Africa’s richest city but its centre is rundown and often neglected.
Abandoned and broken-down buildings are common, and people desperate for some form of accommodation use them for shelter. City authorities refer to the structures as “hijacked buildings” and they have been a problem for years, if not decades.
Mr Mulaudzi said Thursday’s fire took three hours to contain and firefighters needed time to work through all five floors.
