Police with sniffer dogs searched on Friday through the gutted remains of a Johannesburg apartment block as authorities stepped up investigations into the cause of a fire that killed more than 70 people.
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.
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.
Israeli troops and tanks pushed on Saturday into parts of a congested northern Gaza Strip district that they had previously skirted in the more than seven-month-old war, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians, medics and residents said.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is no longer in immediate danger but still in a serious condition, his deputy said on Sunday, four days after an assassination attempt that sent shockwaves through Europe.
At least 47 people have died after continued heavy rain and flooding in northern Afghanistan, an official said on Sunday, a day after a similar number were killed in a central province.
Russian airstrikes killed at least ten people and injured many others in a recreation area just outside Ukraine's northeastern city of Kharkiv on Sunday, local officials said.
Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz will undergo medical tests on Sunday due to "high temperature and joint pain", state news agency SPA reported.
A volcano on the remote Indonesian island of Halmahera has spectacularly erupted, spewing a grey ash cloud into the sky, and people from seven nearby villages have been evacuated, authorities said on Sunday.
Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico remains in serious condition and still faces risks of complications but has stabilised, officials said on Saturday, following Wednesday's assassination attempt.
Pakistan's foreign ministry said on Saturday it had summoned and handed a note of protest to Kyrgyzstan's top diplomat in the country in response to violence against Pakistani students in Bishkek.
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Welcome to Pinoy Bulletin, your go-to source for staying informed about important announcements, exciting group activities, community events, and job opportunities!
Welcome to Pinoy Bulletin, your go-to source for staying informed about important announcements, exciting group activities, community events, and job opportunities!