Emergency crews expected to find more victims as they worked their way through the building, a process slowed by the conditions inside.
Mgcini Tshwaku, a local government official, said there were indications that people lit candles and fires inside the building for light and to keep warm in the winter cold.
The building’s interior was effectively “an informal settlement” where shacks and other structures had been thrown up and people were crammed into rooms, he said.
Colin Errakiah, deputy director for operations at Gauteng Emergency Medical Services, said 17 of those injured were transported to area hospitals, three who were suffering from critical injuries.
Errakiah said the process of identifying some of the dead could be difficult and involve DNA testing and many of the deceased were “burned beyond recognition.”
City officials said 141 families were affected by the tragedy, although they were not able to immediately say how many people were in the building at the time of the blaze.
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