- By Sean Seddon and Ido Vock
- BBC News
February 22, 2024
Updated 1 hour ago
video caption,
Watch: Moment two people are rescued from a burning skyscraper in Spain
According to rescue workers, at least four people have died in a major fire in a high-rise building in the Spanish city of Valencia.
The fire has engulfed a 14-storey block in the Campanar district and spread to an adjacent building.
Firefighters were seen rescuing people from balconies, and local media reported that more people could be trapped inside.
At least 14 people, including six firefighters and a small child, were injured. The fire continues.
More than 20 firefighters are on duty and people have been urged to stay away from the area.
The building includes 138 apartments and housed 450 residents, the newspaper El País reported, citing the building manager.
Local reports said firefighters had used cranes to rescue several residents, including a couple who lived on the seventh floor.
A woman told TVE she saw firefighters trying to rescue a teenager trapped on the first floor of the building.
In the hours after the fire quickly broke out, questions were raised in Spain about the materials used in the construction of the building.
Esther Puchades, vice president of the College of Industrial Technical Engineers in Valencia, told Spanish news agency Efe that she had previously inspected the building.
She claimed the exterior was made of a polyurethane material that is no longer widely used due to fears of flammability.
A man who lives on the second floor of the building told La Sexta television that the flames grew quickly after the fire broke out, reportedly on the fourth floor.
“The fire spread within 10 minutes,” he said, adding that material on the building's facade may have caused the fire to spread.
Image source: Getty Images
Image source: Getty Images
David Higuera, an engineer, told El País that the building's facade may have been the cause of the fire's rapid spread.
The aluminum panels with foam insulation that form the building's outer layer insulate “very well against heat and cold, but are very flammable,” he said.
Firefighters were called around 5:30 p.m. local time (16:30 GMT). RTVE reported that a field hospital had been set up in the area. People displaced from their homes were being housed in hotels, authorities said.
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