At least 73 people have been killed and 52 injured in a raging fire in a five-storey hijacked building on the corner Alberts and Delvers streets in the Johannesburg city centre. Daily Maverick spoke to witnesses and survivors on the scene on Thursday morning.

By 11am on Thursday, the blaze at the Johannesburg Property Company-owned building in downtown Johannesburg had claimed 73 lives. It is said to have had as many as 200 people living in it, some of whom had leapt from windows to escape the flames, witnesses say.

Residents said the fire was started by a candle lit during load shedding.

As bodies lined the street outside the smouldering old heritage building, it was reported that the fire escapes had been sealed, trapping people inside.

Robert Mulaudzi of the city's emergency services said search-and-recovery operations are ongoing and firefighters are moving through the building to pull out possibly more bodies.

News of the deadly fire in Johannesburg spread across the world on Thursday morning.

"On arrival firefighters started to evacuate all the people out of the building while conducting firefighting operations, 10 people were confirmed dead on scene and 42 people were treated on scene later transported to various healthcare facilities for further medical care. At this stage the cause of the fire incident is still a subject of investigations," he said.

The disaster comes six weeks after a gas explosion ripped through the CBD, killing one person, leaving 48 others...