JOHANNESBURG, November 12 – Two firefighters injured during the fatal Bank of Lisbon building fire in the Johannesburg central business district two months ago were discharged from Milpark Hospital on Monday.
The pair have been in the hospital since the September fire which claimed the lives of three of their colleagues. It took three days to extinguish the blaze in the 23-storey building which killed Mduduzi Ndlovu‚ 40‚ Simphiwe Moropane‚ 28‚ and Khathutshelo Muedi‚ aged 37.
The building housed the offices of the provincial departments of health, human settlements, and cooperative governance and traditional affairs.
Eight firefighters were hospitalized with various degrees of injuries, but six of them were discharged within a week.
Speaking outside the hospital, the two firefighters said they drew a lot of strength from their superiors and colleagues at Johannesburg Emergency Management Services (EMS), and from their families.
EMS spokesperson Nana Radebe said the pair would still be in and out of the hospital for physiotherapy.
“We will just give them time to heal properly before they come back [to work],” Radebe said.
Johannesburg authorities are still investigating the cause of the fire in the Bank of Lisbon building.
– Africa News Agency (ANA)
