#JHBFire reappears as another Johannesburg fire kills at least seven

cape york johannesburg fire jhbfire cityofjhbems twitter

A fire that broke out today in a Johannesburg CBD building has killed at least seven people, according to the city’s EMS.

The fire, which burnt through the Cape York building on the corner of Jeppe and Nugget Streets in central Johannesburg, was extinguished around 10am.

“Over 50 people” were rescued from the building’s roof, while a number was rescued from the hospital. Seven people died though, including one who leapt from the building.

A number of bystanders posted images and video of the fire to social media this morning, making #JHBFire one of the more commonly used hashtags of the day.

Twitter users called on big businesses to donate to the victims as they did for those affected by the Knysna fire.

Remarkably, this isn’t the first time this year we’ve seen the hashtag #JHBFire trend this year.

This past weekend the Gauteng Premier David Makhura’s central Johannesburg office was also engulfed in flames.

Another fire broke out at the BraamPark office complex in Braamfontein in April 2017.

Feature image: City of Johannesburg EMS (@CityofJoburgEMS) via Twitter

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