Cháy chung cư ở Johannesburg: 77 người chết

tòa nhà 5 tầng, 600 người, ở 80 Albert Street, Johannesburg, Nam Phi,

cháy hôm 31/8 (trước vụ ở Khương Hạ 2 tuần),

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They arrived in desperation (tuyệt vọng), unable to find anything better, safer or cheaper in a city with a severe shortage (thiếu trầm trọng) of affordable housing (nhà ở giá rẻ). They settled in a trash-choked (đầy rác rưởi) building owned and neglected (bỏ hoang) by the city of Johannesburg, paying “rent” to criminals (tội phạm).

Hundreds of people lived there, and on Thursday morning, at least 77 died there, including at least 12 children, in one of the worst residential fires in South Africa’s history. Flames devoured (ngọn lửa thiêu rụi) a structure that overcrowding, security gates, mounds of garbage and flimsy (mỏng manh) subdividing had turned into a death trap (cái bẫy chết). Some victims (nạn nhân) leaped from upper windows of the five-story building rather than burn to death (thà nhảy từ cửa sổ phía trên của tòa nhà năm tầng hơn là bị chết cháy).

The disaster (Thảm họa) came as no surprise to residents (người dân), housing advocates (người ủng hộ nhà ở) or officials of a city that has more than 600 derelict (bỏ hoang), illegally occupied structures — all but about 30 of them privately owned — according to Mgcini Tshwaku, a city councilman who oversees public safety.

The buildings are home to untold thousands of South Africans suffering from a shortage of housing and jobs, and to migrants from other countries who come searching for opportunity, only to find a nation enduring its own economic crisis (khủng hoảng kinh tế). And these urban squatter camps (trại chiếm dụng nhà (đất đai) đô thị bất hợp pháp) are routinely “hijacked,” residents say, by organized groups demanding payment.

Distraught (quẫn trí) people milled through the crowd gathered around the building in the downtown area, and went from hospital to hospital, searching for loved ones or anyone who might have scraps of information. Officials said at least 61 survivors were treated at several hospitals.