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Officers cordoned off areas around the run-down five-storey
building that was destroyed in a blaze in the early hours of
Thursday in one of South Africa's worst such disasters in living
memory.
Most of the bodies were burned beyond recognition and
investigators would have to rely on DNA samples from friends and
relatives to identify them, said Thembalethu Mpahlaza from
Gauteng province's Forensic Pathology Services.
Only 12 of the 74 bodies they had recovered so far were
identifiable by sight, he added.
"I am devastated," block resident Wambali Kaunda, who lost his
brother and niece in the fire, told Reuters.
"We have been told that if you are able to identify your family
members, then you will be able to collect the bodies." He said
he was on the first floor not far from the exit when the fire
broke out, so managed to escape.
While household fires are common in Johannesburg, especially in
poor areas, the incident has highlighted a housing crisis in one
of the world's most unequal cities with widespread poverty and
joblessness.
The apartment block is owned by municipal authorities, but
officials have struggled to provide a clear picture of who lived
there, saying the block had been "invaded and hijacked" by
unknown groups.
A provincial official said on Thursday some of those who died
may have been renting from, or were being extorted by, criminal
gangs in the so called "hijacked buildings" syndicates.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday the fire was "great
tragedy" and a wake-up call for South Africa to tackle its
inner-city housing crisis.
(Reporting by Shafiek Tassiem, Tannur Anders and Bhargav Acharya,
Writing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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