BUENOS AIRES, Feb 8 (Reuters) - A fire devastated a shantytown on the edge of the Argentine capital on Thursday, forcing about 300 families from their makeshift homes and injuring several residents, officials said.

Television pictures showed weeping residents rushing to save furniture, refrigerators and other goods from their homes as black smoke billowed over the shantytown, built under a highway on the fringes of Buenos Aires.

"There's a team looking for a place to take the people so they can have a bit of peace and get treated by psychologists and social workers to help them get through this terrible moment," said Gabriela Cerruti, undersecretary for human rights in the Buenos Aires city government.

The city government's health service said 31 people were taken to a hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation and emotional distress.

The shantytown is known as "Cardboard City" because most of its residents make a living by gathering discarded cardboard boxes and selling them to recycling centers. It is common to see entire families sifting through trash throughout Buenos Aires.

Latin America's third-biggest economy has grown rapidly since a financial crisis in 2001/02, but nearly a third of Argentines live below the poverty line and the gap between the richest and poorest has widened in recent years.

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