By Sameer Naik, Karishma Dipa, Kashiefa Ajam and Shaun Smillie.
Johannesburg - At 80 Albert Street, the search continued floor by floor as police with dogs scoured the gutted multi-storey building looking for bodies that might have been missed.
It was the last sweep yesterday afternoon before the emergency services handed the building was handed over to the SAPS and it became a crime scene.
They left a fire scene so devastating that many of those firefighters, veterans of past Joburg building fires, would say it was the worst they had ever attended.
One of those rescuers who was first on scene in the early hours of Thursday morning described to the Saturday Star how they rushed to a blazing building to discover that doors were locked.
Rescuers had to use bolt cutters to break them open and free the few that came out the building.
When those first firemen got into the building they found that many of those who lived on the ground and first floors had burnt to death. They couldn’t escape the flames.
“I have never seen anything like this. I have never seen so many dead, burnt bodies in my entire career,” said the seasoned rescuer, who wanted to remain anonymous because they are not authorised to speak to the media. “It was just chaos. People were jumping out of windows, some jumped to their death.”
The firemen had to source water from an adjacent building. As the rescuers made their way up the building, they discovered more dead. These victims were not burnt; they had succumbed to smoke inhalation.
“There were so many gates to open. The rooms themselves were protected by gates. We found two or three families in each room. The rooms are small. When you look inside, you can’t believe people lived like that.”
But there was one image that hurt the most.
The rescue team came across a mother holding her baby in her arms. Both had been burnt beyond recognition.
“We couldn’t fit both of them in a body bag but taking them apart meant you breaking the baby away. Many of us just cried. We have seen some devastating things, but nothing like this,” the rescuer said.
Two days after the fire, the smell of smoke still lay heavy in the spring air. Beyond the police cordons the building residents looked on. Many had been sleeping on the streets; now their hope was that police would allow them into the building to see what belongings they might be able to salvage from the burnt debris.
Many had lost their identity documents. Others carried fresh scars that told stories of miraculous escapes.
Katlego Mbuso had jumped from the second storey to escape the flames on Thursday morning.
It was a leap of faith, he said. There was no mattress or anything else to break his fall. He landed on his stomach, breaking several ribs.
“I had no other choice but to jump,” said Mbuso. “I couldn’t even take a single piece of clothing with me. All I have left is the clothing on my back and nothing else.”
Like so many, he is sleeping rough on the streets and he said no one had come to his aid yet.
“We keep hearing that they have offered to take us to shelters, but that certainly hasn’t happened.”
Government officials did indicate yesterday that they had offered to relocate those affected by the fire to shelters around the CBD, but many had declined.
Mbuso said he had no idea what he would do now that he had no place to live.
“I feel like I am going to have to sleep on the street again tonight. I don’t know what to do. I am really glad that God has protected me and I am one of the lucky few to have survived the fire, but right now I just can’t take any positives from my situation,” he said.
Outside the gutted building, mothers with their children sat barefoot because they had lost their shoes in the fire.
One mother sat with her granddaughter, and her son told The Saturday Star yesterday afternoon that they had no idea where they would sleep. The woman, who did not want to be named, said while she was incredibly distraught by the events over the past 48 hours, she was grateful that she managed to grab her granddaughter and her son before her room went up in flames.
“As much as this is a horrible situation, I am so glad that myself and my family managed to escape the fire,” she said.
“I had to carry my granddaughter on my back and my son had to hold my hand as we walked through clouds of black smoke and eventually found our way out. My only hope was to keep my family safe and for us to walk out alive. I have a few scars on my leg but that’s it.”
Like so many others she lost everything in the fire.
A Zimbabwean couple who also managed to escape the blaze, now fear they may be deported. They didn’t have enough time to grab documents as they made their escape.
“I immediately woke my wife up and told her we need to get out immediately. It was around midnight. Thankfully we reacted quickly and escaped through a gate that was open.”
He said he was devastated by the fire, and he and his wife had lost several friends.
“We have a friend who lost her child in the fire. There are no words to describe how devastating this has been to so many families.”
On Friday it was the city’s citizenry that began to arrive to help. Organisations set up and started distributing meals to the building’s residents.
Leaders of religious and faith organisations also gathered outside the building to pray for the souls of those who perished in the flames. Never before has Joburg seen such devastation.
Those mourning the dead yesterday included Ocean Ngwenya and Nonhlanhla Moho, co-owners of the nearby BMF lzawu take-away.
“They have become family to us and many of them were our customers.”
With the area cordoned off their businesses have taken a knock. They have also been without electricity since the blaze.
In the days to come the authorities will continue their quest for answers, but for those gathered looking up at the gutted shell, the reminders of death are everywhere.
There are burnt shoes and clothes scattered across the streets, while the curtains and towels hanging tattered from the building’s windows tell of the desperate actions that night that left so few alive.
Meanwhile, The Department Health spokesperson, Motalatale Modeba said 62 of the bodies are unidentifiable and only 12 have been identified so far. Eight families have claimed/identified their loved ones. The bodies are being stored at the Diepkloof Forensic Pathology Services (FPS) .
Hospital patients
- 88 people treated at facilities
- 36 discharged
- 33 admitted
- Others were seen and immediately discharged.
Survivors of the deadly inferno were and are being treated at:
– Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital
– Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital
– Helen Joseph Hospital
– South Rand Hospital
– Tembisa Hospital
– 29 people who came to Diepkloof FPS
– 45 names were given
– 25 post-mortems done already
– 10 families from whom DNA samples were done linking to 19 of the unidentifiable people
A Gauteng Health Provincial hotline has been established for families who want to check the whereabouts of their loved ones, hospital admissions and the deceased.
– Hotline is 0800203886
– Direct line is 0113553048 / 0112415707
Counselling services are being offered on site by counsellors from GDoH, COJ and other organisations.