Source : Perth Now news
At least five people have been killed and many others injured in a fire at an apartment block in the Belgian city of Antwerp.
The blaze broke out mid-morning on the eighth floor of the building, where more than 200 people live, in the city’s Linkeroever neighbourhood, sending vast plumes of smoke into the air, Antwerp police said on Wednesday.
“Right now, unfortunately, at least five people have died in the fire. There are also a significant number of seriously injured people, as well as a number of lightly injured,” Antwerp police spokesperson Kim Bastiaens told Belgian private broadcaster VTM.
The 10-storey block was evacuated and residents were warned to keep their windows and doors closed.
Firefighters battled the blaze in difficult conditions due to its size and intensity, police said.
Several teams of first responders and police were dispatched to the site, including a specialised drone unit.
It was not immediately clear what caused the fire, but Bastiaens said it had started on the ground floor, and forensic experts were scouring the site.
An Associated Press photographer at the scene said the smoke died down by early afternoon, but many first responders were still there.
Television images from the scene showed one man on an upper floor enveloped in smoke and hanging over a balcony in an effort to get fresh air, before making his way to a nearby window.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, a former mayor of Antwerp, said his “thoughts are with the victims and the evacuated residents of the terrible fire on Linkeroever”.
