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South Africa

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RTH10260
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South Africa

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South African Parliament Buildings ‘Gutted’ After Large Fire
Officials warned that the damage to the buildings would be extensive. A man was arrested on Sunday morning inside the parliamentary complex, Parliament’s spokesman said.

By Lynsey Chutel and Austin Ramzy
Jan. 2, 2022

CAPE TOWN — A large fire at South Africa’s Houses of Parliament on Sunday sent flames and smoke billowing from rooftops and fire crews racing to save the historic structures.

Officials said the fire spread from an office space on the third floor of a building adjacent to the old National Assembly building toward a gym and to rooftops. The scale of the destruction was not immediately clear, they said, but there were fires burning in “two very distinct areas,” and they warned that it was likely to be extensive.

Parliament’s spokesman, Moloto Mothapo, said on Sunday evening that a man in his early 50s was arrested inside the parliamentary complex on Sunday morning in connection to the fire, but he did not give any further details.

“The entire parliamentary complex is severely damaged — waterlogged and smoke damaged,” JP Smith, Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for safety and security, said, adding that “the roof above the old assembly hall is completely gone.”

“The second point of fire is the National Assembly building, which is gutted,” Mr. Smith said, referring to the building where the Parliament meets. “The structural ceiling has collapsed. The fire staff had to be momentarily withdrawn.”

Cape Town’s Fire and Rescue Service spokesman, Jermaine Carelse, warned that the buildings themselves were at risk of collapse, given the intense heat of the fire.

The roofing material was “even melting,” he said, according to the News24 website, adding, “There have been reports of some walls showing cracks.”

The fire was reported around 6 a.m. and was still burning late Sunday afternoon. No injuries or fatalities have been reported. Parliament was not in session because it had been closed for the holidays.




https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/02/worl ... ament.html
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RTH10260
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South Africa

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At least 73 killed as fire engulfs five-storey building in Johannesburg
Seven children among dozens dead after blaze tears through building in South Africa’s largest city

Helen Sullivan and agencies
Thu 31 Aug 2023 10.01 BST

At least 73 people, including seven children, have died in a fire in a multi-storey building in Johannesburg, South Africa’s biggest city, emergency services have said.

In one of the country’s worst such tragedies in living memory, Emergency Management Services said a further 52 people were injured in the blaze, which broke out early on Thursday.

People had been evacuated from the building, and the emergency services spokesperson said a search and recovery operation was under way. It was likely the death toll would rise, Robert Mulaudzi said, and it was not immediately clear what caused the blaze.

“Over 20 years in the service, I’ve never come across something like this,” he added.

There was an “informal settlement” inside the five-storey building, Mulaudzi said. “So there [are] a lot of informal structures inside the building. There is a lot of debris that we have to remove.”

The local television station Newzroom Afrika said the building had been abandoned previously but was inhabited at the time of the fire.



https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... ire-deaths
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