The Gauteng Department of Health said 18 more bodies of the Johannesburg CBD fire victims have been identified through a digital fingerprints system. The fire thatvravaged the five storey building claimed 77 lives, three of which died a few days later in hospital. The incident that took place more than two weeks ago has also left more than 60 people injured at the hijacked Usindiso building in Marshalltown.

The department of health spokesperson Motalatale Modiba said that the investment made on the Forensic Pathology Digital Fingerprint System has yielded positive results. "The system has seen the Gauteng Forensic Pathology Service (FPS) managing to identify additional people from the 62 unidentifiable victims of the Johannesburg inner-city building fire incident. Salvaged fingerprints of the deceased were processed through the digital fingerprint system to identify 11 more people. After autopsies were done and the deceased cleaned, further body examinations were done where another 7 bodies were identified by families through various features such

as tattoos and other body marks, " Modiba said. This means 18 more bodies were identified, bringing the number of identifiable bodies to 30 when combined with the 12 that were originally identifiable.

Modiba added that the number of unidentifiable bodies is now sitting at 44. As of Sunday, 10 September 2023, 76 families have presented at the Diepkloof Forensic Pathology Service mortuary in Soweto to report their loved ones which has resulted in a line list of 74 names that possibly died in the fire. The SAPS Victim Identification Centre unit has drawn 38 swabs from the families and is currently doing cross referencing of these to the DNA samples from the unidentifiable bodies as part of linking families with their deceased loved ones. Modiba also said that 20 bodies have since been collected by families.

Out of the 63 people who were admitted in different hospitals after sustaining injuries from the fire, 27 patients remain admitted at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, Helen Joseph Hospital, Chris Hani

Baragwanath Academic Hospital and Tembisa Hospital. On Friday, Gauteng Premier and the Health and Wellness MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko had a meeting with Southern African Development Countries to look at the urgent need to link the digital fingerprint system with SADC population registers as a lasting solution in addressing the problem of undocumented immigrants at

forensic pathology services mortuaries.