IN PHOTOS | Deadly blaze at rundown Johannesburg building kills scores of largely homeless people

City officials said 141 families were affected by the tragedy, although they were not able to immediately say how many people were in the building at the time of the blaze.

A nighttime fire ripped through a rundown five-story building in Johannesburg that was occupied by homeless people and squatters, killing over 70 people early Thursday. (Photo | AP) 

Some of the people living in a maze of shacks and other makeshift structures inside the building threw themselves out of windows to escape the fire and might have died then. (Photo | AP)

Seven of the victims were children, the youngest a 1-year-old, according to an emergency services spokesperson. (Photo | AP)

Emergency crews expected to find more victims as they worked their way through the building, a process slowed by the conditions inside. (Photo | AFP)

Dozens of bodies were lined up on a nearby side road, some in body bags, and others covered with silver sheets and blankets. (Photo | AP)

As many as 200 people may have been living in the building, witnesses said. City officials said 141 families were affected by the tragedy, although they were not able to immediately say how many people were in the building at the time of the blaze. (Photo | AP)

Abandoned and broken-down buildings in the area are common and often taken over by people desperately seeking some form of accommodation. (Photo | AP)

Johannesburg Emergency Services Management spokesman Robert Mulaudzi said the death toll was likely to increase and more bodies were likely trapped inside the building. (Photo | AP)

People gather to watch rescue efforts at a multi-story building used by homeless people that caught fire, in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo | AP)

Johannesburg Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda (C) talks to media at the scene of a fire in Johannesburg on August 31, 2023. (Photo | AP)