At least four people were killed in a fire in a 14-story residential building that spread with amazing speed in the Spanish coastal city of Valencia, while 14 were missing, according to what the authorities reported.
“We confirm that there are four dead,” Jorge Soares Torres, assistant director of the emergency services in the Valencia region, told reporters on Thursday night – Friday.
Spanish media reported that the location of the bodies was determined using drones.
The head of the local administration, Pilar Bernanbe, said on Friday morning, “It was not possible to determine the whereabouts of 14 people” residents of the building, which includes 138 apartments. She stressed that “this number may change.”
The city's mayor, Maria Jose Catala, spoke of “9 to 15” missing people, based on information collected from the local police and residents of the building, while a source in the municipality told Agence France-Presse at night, requesting that his name not be revealed, that 19 people were missing.
Firefighters were unable to enter the building located in the El Campanar neighborhood, as the fire broke out on Thursday at approximately 17:30 (16:30 GMT) on the fourth floor before spreading at an enormous speed.
Soares Torres said, “The nature of the building does not allow us at the present time to put out the fire in the interior part” of it.
He added, “We are working to cool the building at the facade level. This is our goal in the coming hours, and we cannot say at the present time when we will be able to enter.”
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