Picture: Screengrab
The death toll in the Jeppestown building fire has risen to four.
Three others were also injured in the fire at the three-storey building in Johannesburg.
City of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services firefighters attended to the building fire in Jeppestown in the early hours of Sunday morning.
It is understood the fire broke out at about 1am at the building located at the corner of Jannie and Jules Street in Jeppestown.
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Joburg Emergency Services spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said the fire may have started from an illegal connection.
Mulaudzi said one of the people that was injured jumped out of the building when it caught fire.
“We can confirm that firefighters have recovered four bodies while conducting search and recovery operations. We also have three patients who were treated for injuries and smoke inhalation. They were transported to the nearest healtcare facility for further medical care by Gauteng EMS paramedics.”
Mulaudzi said the fire has been extinguished.
“Right now were are actually doing what we call a search and recovery just to make sure that we remove and other bodies which might still be trapped inside the building. The building is actually divided with partitions, some sheet metals inside there. So, there might be other bodies which might still be trapped.
“The building inside looks like an informal settlement, so we have to make sure we remove any uncertainty in terms of any other person who might still be unaccounted for,” Mulaudzi said.
The fire comes a day after three people were injured and another killed in separate fire incidents in Joburg. The three people were injured after at least 36 shacks caught fire in Industria, Johannesburg.
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