A fire has devastated one of the most crowded neighbourhoods of Johannesburg, destroying 500 homes and leaving thousands of people homeless.
The fire broke out late on Thursday afternoon in Alexandra, a township in the South African city that is home to more than 400,000 people.
“On arriving at the scene the firefighters were met with an inferno and immediately began to evacuate the residents in the area to safety,” said Michael Sun from the mayor’s office.
Thick black smoke rose from Alex, as the neighbourhood is known, as the fire roared below. Three fire engines were sent to the scene but the only nearby fire hydrant had low water pressure and the engines had to ferry water back and forth. Sun said shacks were often built on top of hydrants, or they were vandalised.
Donated money, clothes and food flooded into the township on Friday, though some South Africans commented that many of Alexandra’s residents were foreigners, in echoes of the xenophobic riots that have split communities and seen immigrants attacked across the country.
Local organisations put out calls for help and donations of corrugated iron sheets, mattresses and beds.