Johannesburg fire: Death toll jumps to 52 after blaze in a building in South Africa's biggest city

At least one child was among the dead, Mulaudzi said.

Authorities said the fire had been largely extinguished, but smoke still seeped out of windows of the blackened building downtown. Strings of sheets and other materials also hung out of some of the windows. It was not clear if people had used those to try and escape the fire or if they were trying to save their possessions.

Mulaudzi said the building was effectively an “informal settlement” where homeless people had moved in looking for accommodation without any formal lease agreements. He said that made it hard to search the building.

There might have been as many as 200 people living in the building, witnesses said.