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More than 61 people were treated at various medical facilities in and around Joburg.

A deadly fire in downtown Johannesburg has highlighted the issue of abandoned buildings being taken over by criminal syndicates. Many of these buildings are owned by the city or provincial government and have become centers of drug trafficking and lawlessness. The fire, which killed over 70 people, broke out in one such building that was leased to a charity but had ceased operations and became occupied by drug users and poor migrants.

Like many impoverished residents of downtown Johannesburg, Sihle Dube had rented a tiny room from someone who didn't actually own it, in a rundown building that was becoming a trash-strewn haven for drugs and crime. Dube scrambled into his trousers and tried to climb out of his first floor window, but he slipped on a satellite dish, fell and blacked out. More than 70 others did not make it out alive, one of Johannesburg's worst disasters in living memory.

Johannesburg city authorities leased it to a charity providing shelter for women in 2016, but it had "ended up serving a different purpose," Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda told reporters.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -Like many impoverished residents of downtown Johannesburg, Sihle Dube had rented a tiny room from someone who didn't actually own it, in a rundown building that was becoming a trash-strewn haven for drugs and crime. Dube scrambled into his trousers and tried to climb out of his first floor window, but he slipped on a satellite dish, fell and blacked out. More than 70 others did not make it out alive, one of Johannesburg's worst disasters in living memory.