Firefighters and police officers were at the scene of a fire that killed more than 70 in Johannesburg, South Africa, on August 31.

Located in the city's central business district, the five-storey derelict building was being used by homeless migrants from neighbouring countries.

Officials said bodies were piled up at a locked gate that had prevented them from fleeing the burning building.

73 people have been killed and a further 52 injured in one of the worst blazes to hit the inner city areas of South Africa. The fire broke out in an abandoned building which had been taken over by unknown slumlords who charge the destitute monthly rentals for living space.

Mid morning in downtown Johannesburg was a scene of rabid activity as emergency services personnel hurried to clear the last remaining bodies from a hi-jacked building gutted by an early morning blaze. By the time political figure heads arrived on the smoke singed scene 73 people had perished with a further 52 inujured rushed to hospitals around the CBD. Those same political figureheads are set to host a media briefing at 4pm (sast) to devise a housing plan for the close to 100 people who have now been peft without shelter. Many of whom, have only the clothes on their backs after this morning’s inferno, described as one of the worst in a democratic South Africa.

The video speaks to the major metropolitan areas of south africa becoming a refuge for the destitute from all over the continent and here in South Africa. it speaks to a situation of lawlessness where slumlords have for decades used abandoned buildings as 'human packing facilities for profit' as they charge people living from hand to mouth in the region $70 US a
month for a place to stay. local authorities have not been able to claim back these buildings from the slum lords, who have turned these eyesores into a booming, uncontrolled industry over the last 3 decades.