Follow us
At least three dead in large fire at warehouse near Barcelona
At least three people died and 17 others were injured, three of them serious, in a fire declared this Wednesday night, 10 December 2020, in an industrial warehouse in Barcelona where a hundred people usually live as squatters, mostly sub-Saharan immigrants. Fire fighters rescued several people who had taken shelter on the roof while others jumped out of windows to escape. Some of the residents feared that several of their companions had died in the fire, since they could not find them hours after the accident was declared. The Generalitat’s Medical Emergency System treated 18 injured, of which three were in serious condition, another four less serious and the remaining 11 mild, who were transferred to different hospitals in the Barcelona area such as Vall de Hebron, Can Ruti , Sant Pau and the Hospital del Mar. The fire started shortly before 21h00 at night in the warehouse, located on Guifré Street in the Barcelona town. To avoid the flames, several people climbed to the roof of the four-storey building and some even jumped into the void to escape, according to police sources. Nearly 30 fire crews helped evacuate residents of the building, many of whom had been trapped inside. Fire fighters removed about 30 but they fear that another unknown number is still trapped inside the building. Eduard Martínez, operational chief of the Generalitat’s Bombers, said that the fire has affected two structures: one with two floors and one with three. “The structure is very affected and until tomorrow we will not have the safety conditions to enter the building. We have tried to enter but there are several collapses and we have aborted the rescue manoeuvres. A preliminary search has been carried out by drone”, he said. The fire fighters located a corpse thanks to a rescue ladder, since they cannot access the buildings.
“The fire is of devastating characteristics. The building is at risk of collapse, it can fall at any time”, warned the Catalan Minister of the Interior, Miquel Sàmper, in an appearance before the news media at the scene of the events. The Mossos are investigating whether the accident could be caused or if it was caused by chance by a bonfire that the occupants of the place could have lit to combat the cold. The mayor of Barcelona, the popular Xavier Garcia Albiol, lamented the “tragedy” that occurred in the Gorg neighborhood and highlighted the work of the professionals who work to suppress the fire, in addition to expressing their confidence that “there are no victims.” Albiol stressed that the City Council had already warned about the existence of that squatted warehouse and the problems it generated for some residents. “The City Council has been announcing for some time that a disaster could occur. 15 minutes before the fire warning, there was a control of the Urban Guard and the National Police in this area to control problems of coexistence that were occurring. It is an issue that we will have time to address in the coming days when the urgent matter is resolved, “he explained. The City Council estimates that between 100 and 150 people could live in the warehouse on a regular basis. Some entities of the municipality had tried, with little success, to dignify the living conditions of immigrants. In January 2019, three people lost their lives in Badalona in a fire caused by the overload of the network in a building where several families resided that were connected to the electricity network in an irregular way. Since then, in the municipality there has been a very active neighbourhood movement to tackle energy poverty as well as the lack of decent housing. Sources: ZOX and BBC |
|
