Johannesburg Fire: Desperate Mother Frantically Searches for Daughter as Death Toll of Blaze Climbs to 73

• A heartbroken mother is desperately searching for her daughter in the aftermath of the Johannesburg building fire
• The 24-year-old daughter lives in a five-story building that was gutted by a blaze on Thursday morning
• The death toll has risen to 73 while Joburg EMS is still investigating the cause of the fire

JOHANNESBURG - A devastated mother is clinging to hope that her 24-year-old daughter is alive after the Johannesburg CBD building she lives in was gutted by a fire in the early hours of Thursday, 31 August.

Treasurelee Shuping rushed to the scene after she received word that a blaze had razed the five-story building. Her daughter, Matshidiso Zanele, had allegedly been living in the hijacked building for over a year.

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Speaking to TimesLIVE, Shuping revealed that the building was in a deplorable state and not fit for people to live in. She tried to get Zanele to move back home, but the woman refused.

Shuping said:

“Now I’m kept in suspense because I don’t know what’s happening, I don’t get any direction. People are being evacuated and the death toll is rising."

Joburg blaze death toll climbs

As of 8 am on Thursday, the death toll has skyrocketed to 73, and 52 others have been injured in the blaze.

Emergency Management Services spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said the building was illegally occupied, and the residents lived there without the owner's consent.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, but Mulaudzi revealed that the electricity connection to the building isn't legal, News24 reported.

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SA sympathises with desperate mother's plight

Below are some comments:

@KeStarN sympathised:

"Sho, bathong [goodness], mama."

@ZPetane hoped:

"Oh man, hopefully, your daughter is one of the survivors."

@Yolie_ThePoet grieved:

"What a sad story!"

@RozeGoldQueen added:

"I just pray her daughter is at her boyfriend's place or something."

@Rito_Jay exclaimed:

"Yoh!!! This is so heartbreaking."

@zakes_ngidi said:

"This made me very sad. Condolences to everyone who has lost their loved ones."

Pretoria father wants justice after children die in shack fire

In another story, Briefly News reported that a devastated father wants his partner and her sister locked up for good after three of his children burned to death, alongside two other kids, in a devastating shack fire at Itireleng informal settlement in Laudium, Pretoria, on Sunday, 27 August.

Johannes Masongwane, who is now only left with two children following the tragedy, said:

“I will never forgive them. They must rot in jail.”

Source: Briefly News