Four dead in massive fire at Valencia building – more victims feared Biden is meeting Navalny’s wife and daughter

At least four people have been killed and a 14-story building destroyed in a major fire in Valencia, eastern Spain, according to preliminary information. According to the regional newspaper Levante, at least fourteen people were injured and twenty more are missing. Six firefighters were among the injured, Jorge Suárez Torres of the rescue services told journalists at the scene of the accident on Thursday evening. This shows the ‘intensity’ of the rescue operation.

The fire in the high-rise building broke out on the fourth floor around 5:30 p.m. The building, which was only a few years old and had 138 apartments spread over 15 floors, quickly went up in flames and sometimes resembled a huge torch. According to residents, it spread rapidly across the facade to the other floors.

Thick black smoke enveloped the building. As the emergency services announced on the online service X, formerly Twitter, 22 fire teams were deployed to bring the flames under control. However, at the time of the fire, strong winds were blowing in Valencia.

The whole house was on fire

Two people who called for help from a balcony were able to be brought to safety at the last minute by the fire brigade using a turntable ladder with a rescue basket, as seen on television images.

It was already burning brightly around them. A resident of the house said on television channel RTVE that except for the two rescued people, apparently all other residents were able to leave the building in time.

According to this information, as a precaution, authorities have built a field hospital near the major fire. In addition, soldiers from the military emergency response unit UME were called in to fight the flames, state television RTVE reported. The UME is used differently in large forest fires. (saw/sda/dpa)