12 children among 74 killed in Joburg inferno, families urged to claim loved ones
One more person died in hospital on Thursday, bringing the death toll from the Marshalltown building fire in Johannesburg to 74.
Authorities, led by City Manager Floyd Brink, held a media briefing at the City of Johannesburg’s Metro Centre in Braamfontein where they gave an update following the deadly fire.
More than 200 families have been displaced and a temporary shelter was arranged to house them, at least until the weekend.
Acting head of forensic pathology services in the Gauteng Health Department, Thembalethu Mphahlaza, said 12 children were among the deceased.
“Among these 74 bodies, we have 24 females, 40 males, and an undetermined gender – which is 10 bodies, because those bodies were burnt beyond recognition. Among those that I have mentioned, we have 12 children.”
He said processes to prepare the bodies for identification by their loved ones were already underway at the Diepkloof mortuary.
READ: Trapped residents fled through windows in Joburg inferno
“So far, we are busy registering those bodies, and there will be contacts that we’ll be sharing through the media for the families,” Mphahlaza said.
He added that for those bodies that could not be immediately identifiable, they would use the newly launched digital fingerprint system and DNA sampling.
WATCH: Acting CEO Gauteng forensic pathology services Thembalethu Mphahlaza gives an update. He confirms 74 bodies have been received. Of those 24 are female, 40 are male, the gender of 10 bodies couldn’t be identified. There are 12 children among the deceased #JoburgFire pic.twitter.com/CVcQjjAQAM
— Jacaranda News (@JacaNews) August 31, 2023
The province's Health Department released a statement on Thursday evening, urging affected families to visit the Diepkloof mortuary to identify their loved ones from Friday.
“The facility will also be open on Saturday and Sunday from 09:00 to 15:00. Counselling services will be offered to bereaved families,” the statement said.
At the same time, emergency personnel said they had also retrieved body parts which have not been linked to any of the deceased.
Acting EMS chief Rapulane Monageng said once the building had cooled down, the K9 unit would continue the search operation.
“Whatever we find that looks like a limb or body part, we’ll go back and reconcile and take it back to pathology so that the family can bury them with respect. The scene is still going on and we have our K9 from JMPD and SAPS, and we’ll use the K9 to do body recoveries.”
Johannesburg Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda said officials would be visiting survivors of the tragedy at various facilities. More than 60 people were admitted, and of those 16 had been discharged by Thursday afternoon.
ALSO READ:
