Illegal abandoned building gutted by fire in Industria West, Johannesburg [VIDEO]

An abandoned building, just a few doors away from The Citizen newspaper in Industria West, has been gutted by fire.

Johannesburg Emergency Management Services (EMS) spokesperson Xolile Khumalo told The Citizen firefighters responded to the fire just after 11pm on Thursday.

Watch: A video of the gutted building

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Clothing storage

“The abandoned building was previously a factory and is now illegally converted to a recycled clothing storage. They collect recycling materials and take them somewhere to be converted into fibre. The collected material caught fire, but there is no indication as to how.

“EMS firefighters found 15 males outside, no one sustained injuries. The owner of the building cannot be found because it’s not insured, so we don’t have any details of the owner,” said Khumalo.

She said police are investigating the details surrounding the abandoned building.

“When they [firefighters] left the SA Police Service had come in,” she added.

Foreign nationals

A worker at the building told The Citizen the 15 employees were all Malawian citizens.

Two of them said they lost everything in the fire and wanted the owner to compensate them.

“We lost money, our phone, our stuff. When we asked the people where we could get our stuff, they said the boss was not around.

“Our problem is we don’t have anything now. Our things are burning inside there. We just need something to help us because our money, shoes and passports are all burnt. We need help. The boss is around but we don’t know where he is staying,” they said.

The duo said the employer has not yet contacted his workers.

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