Two children, aged five and seven, have died in the South African city of Johannesburg after a fire broke out in a residential building where they had been left unattended and locked inside an apartment.

The blaze, in the inner city area of Hillbrow, began on Wednesday afternoon.

A reporter from South Africa’s Times Live has recently tweeted a video from the scene filmed after firefighters arrived:

Squatters often move into old and abandoned buildings in the area – which colloquially are said to have been “hijacked”.

Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda visited the scene later in the evening, commending firefighters for their efforts and saying Hillbrow’s old buildings did not meet health and safety standards.

“This particular property has been at the centre of the City [of Johannesburg’s] efforts to reclaim hijacked buildings from illegal occupants and crime syndicates,” New24 quoted him as saying.

The city’s emergency services say the children appear to have died from smoke inhalation and their bodies were later found “burnt beyond recognition”.

The cause of the fire is not yet known and the police are conducting investigations.

Source: BBC