Blaze in run-down Johannesburg apartment block kills scores

Firefighters work at the scene of a deadly blaze in the early hours of the morning, in Johannesburg, South Africa August 31, 2023. REUTERS/Shiraaz Mohamed

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - More than 70 people were killed overnight when a fire raged through a run-down, five-storey Johannesburg apartment block, one of the worst such disasters in a city where poverty, household fires and homelessness are widespread.

The building was gutted, blackened by soot and still smouldering on Thursday as emergency services gathered around it and bodies lay covered in blankets on a nearby street.