Death Toll From Marshalltown Fire Rises To 77
The Department of Health has reported that the death toll from Thursday’s Johannesburg Inner City fire incident has risen to 77.
According to Motalatale Modiba, the department’s spokesperson, three people died in the hospital.
“The third one was declared dead on the 2nd of September, this brings the total to 77. You would recall that 74 of those people were declared at the scene.”
Modiba has provided the most recent report on patients and body processing following the event.
He claims that just 31 of the 88 patients seen at various health facilities are still in the hospital.
“Of the 31 patients in admission, only five still require semi-critical care, however, they are fully awake, and the admitted patients are not impacting the normal flow of our trauma patients in our facility.”
According to Modiba, they have made significant progress in conducting post-mortems on the 74 victims.
Pathologists had completed 58 bodies by Saturday evening, with 16 more to be completed on Sunday.
He says that this procedure has aided in the identification of the deceased.
The Diepkloof Forensic Pathology Services mortuary has 62 unidentified bodies and 12 identifiable corpses.
“To date, 40 families have presented at the facility to report their loved ones which has resulted in a list of 66 names that possibly perished in a fire being developed and nine families have already identified their loved ones from the 12 identifiable bodies,” says Modiba.
“Once the families conclude necessary processes and produce the required documentation documents, the mortal remains will be released to them.”
