Spanish inferno leaves at least 9 people dead
>> VALENCIA: Spanish fire crews on Friday picked through a smouldering 14-storey apartment block in Valencia, searching for bodies and clues, after an inferno ripped through the building killing at least nine people.
Authorities, who declared three days of mourning, said it was unclear if more people were missing and gave no immediate indication for the cause.
Experts said however the building was covered with highly flammable cladding, which could account for the rapid spread of the blaze after it broke out on the fourth floor on Thursday afternoon.
Black smoke rose high in the sky as flames quickly consumed the high-rise of 138 flats in the Campanar district of the Mediterranean port city in eastern Spain, film footage of the horrific blaze showed.
Police have so far found nine bodies, said Pilar Bernabe, the central government’s representative in the region, revising down a toll of 10 announced earlier on Friday.
Amid uncertainty over the missing, officials have not ruled out the death toll rising however. Fifteen people were treated for injuries of varying degrees.
Fire crews on Friday entered the blackened ruin of the residential block, its windows blown out and the oncewhite facade charred with the residue of smoke and flames.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited the scene and encouraged people to “show empathy, affection and solidarity with the victims, with their families, with those who still do not know exactly what has happened” to their loved ones.
Smoke still wafted from the building though it was quickly blown away by the strong winds, which had fuelled the flames and complicated efforts to douse the blaze.
“Luckily it was at a time when a lot of people were not home, some were working, others had gone to pick up their kids at school,” said Juan Bautista, a 70-year-old pensioner. “If it was later, or at dinner, there would have been many more fatalities.”
Slava Honcharenko, a 31-year-old Ukrainian, said he knew compatriots who lived in the building. They had been relocated to a hotel since Thursday night.
“We feel very bad. We know what it is when you lose your house because we experienced this two years ago in Ukraine,” he said.