- Blaze is thought to have broken out at around 5.30pm before spreading rapidly
A huge fire has ripped through a block of flats in the Spanish city of Valencia, with shocking video showing desperate residents on their balconies as flames engulf the building.
Local media has reported that several residents are still trapped inside as the fire rages. Witnesses have said that firefighters managed to rescue a father and daughter and a couple from their balconies.
The fire is believed to have broken out at around 5.30pm and went on to ravage the residential block, which is in the affluent Campanar area in the north of the port city.
It started on the fourth floor and rapidly spread, emergency services said, with dramatic pictures showing flames and towering clouds of black smoke engulfing the building.
The region’s 112 service said 16 teams of firefighters are engaged in tackling the blaze, with their efforts being hampered by the wind and soaring temperatures of the fire.
Local media reports that a field hospital has been set up within the perimeter in case possible victims need treatment.
The fire is believed to have broken out at around 5.30pm on one floor before quickly spreading to the rest of the block
Dramatic footage shows two residents desperately trying to shelter from the fire. A number of people have been rescued from their balconies by firefighters
Firefighters work to extinguish the flames as they continue to rip through the residential block
The cause of the fire is unknown and it is not known if there are any victims
Images showed flames and vast clouds of black smoke engulfing the building
Firefighters have been battling the blaze as it rages through the residential block in the eastern port city
Seven people have been confirmed injured so far, including a firefighter with a broken wrist and residents suffering from burns and smoke inhalation.
Television images showed the entire facade of the building ablaze as burning segments fell to the pavement below and small explosions were heard inside.
Local media reported several residents calling for help from the balconies of their apartments.
Ana Mari Gonzalez, who works in a nearby clinic, told TVE she could see firefighters working to rescue a teenage boy trapped on the building’s first floor.
Spain’s TVE public television said there were more than 130 flats in the building which was 14 stories high, saying it had been ‘reduced to a skeleton’ with a nearby building also consumed by the flames.
‘Please stay away from the area of the fire to let the emergency services do their work,’ Valencia’s mayor Maria Jose Catala wrote on X.
Also on X, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he was ‘shocked by the terrible fire’ and was in contact with the mayor and the region’s leader ‘to offer whatever help they needed’ and extending his condolences to everyone affected by the blaze.