Marshalltown fire: 62 bodies burnt beyond recognition
The Gauteng Department of Health says 62 of the victims were burnt beyond recognition during Thursday morning’s devastating fire at a building in the Johannesburg CBD.
The fire claimed the lives of at least 74 people, including 12 children.
The Department of Health’s Acting CEO for Pathology Services Thembalethu Mphahlaza says they have only managed to identify 12 bodies.
"We realised that out of the 74 bodies that we collected, we only have 12 bodies that can be identifiably viewed, but 62 of these bodies are burnt beyond recognition. Hence it will take a while to finalise the process of harvesting the DNA samples from those bodies. "
The department has called on the families of the deceased to come and identify the victims who were not burnt beyond recognition.
Of those killed in the fire, 24 were women, 40 were men, and the gender of 10 bodies couldn’t be identified.
The bodies have since been transported to the Diepkloof morgue in Soweto.
ALSO READ:
