Four Dead in Valencia Apartment Block Blaze, Dozens Injured
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - At least four people have died in Spain following a fire that ravaged a multi-storey apartment block in Valencia, with firefighters contending with high winds to extinguish the inferno.
Emergency services reported that fourteen people, including a seven-year-old child, were treated for injuries of varying degrees, with twelve of them transferred to hospitals.
The toll could rise, with 19 people missing, a source on the city council who asked not to be named told Agence France-Presse.
Jorge Suarez Torres, deputy director of emergency services for the Valencia region, confirmed the death toll, stating, “It can be confirmed that four people have died.”
The fire broke out around 5:30 pm on the fourth floor and quickly spread, engulfing the building in the Campanar neighborhood, with 22 teams of firefighters summoned to the scene.
Spain's TVE public television reported that the 14-storey building, which housed over 130 flats, was rapidly "reduced to a skeleton."
Esther Puchades, deputy head of Valencia's industrial engineers association, explained to regional TV station A Punt that the fire spread quickly due to the building's highly flammable polyurethane cladding.
The incident is reminiscent of the Grenfell Tower fire in London in June 2017, which claimed 72 lives and led to an ongoing public inquiry into the disaster.
Luis Ibáñez, a resident in a nearby building, described the speed at which the fire spread as shocking, likening the building to being "made of cork."
Valencia Mayor María José Catalá urged locals to stay away from the fire-affected area to allow emergency services to carry out their operations.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed shock over the fire and pledged to offer assistance to those affected.
In a separate incident last October, a nightclub fire in the neighboring region of Murcia claimed 13 lives, resulting in six people being charged as part of a manslaughter investigation.