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FIRE

70 evacuated from Stockholm fire

At least 70 people were forced from their homes due to a major fire which broke out in a six-storey building on Södermalm in central Stockholm on Friday evening.

The fire continued to smoulder on Saturday morning as fire-fighters worked to extinguish the blaze. The fire service expected to be occupied with extinguishing the last of the fire for most of Saturday.

The fire was ablaze when emergency services arrived at the scene shortly before 9.30pm. The blaze raged for several hours and was brought under control at around 1am on Saturday.

The attic was completely destroyed in the fire but no injuries were reported.

The cause of the fire remained unknown on Saturday morning. Due to the extreme heat and ongoing work to extinguish the fire, police technicians have not been able to approach the building and conduct an examination.

For several hours there was an acute risk that the fire would spread to an apartment located just below the seat of the fire. However, fire-fighters were able to save the apartment from the fire but water damage to the property was reported to be severe.

The social services were called in to assist some of the building’s residents with finding alternative temporary accommodation while others were able to return home or could find shelter with friends for the remained of the night.

FIRE

Barcelona fire kills four, including two children

A fire ripped through an abandoned bank occupied by squatters in central Barcelona on Tuesday, killing four people, including a baby and a three year-old boy, Spanish firefighters said.

Police and firefighters gather outside an abandoned building where a blaze broke out early on November 30, 2021 in Barcelona, killing four people.
Police and firefighters gather outside an abandoned building where a blaze broke out early on November 30, 2021 in Barcelona, killing four people. (Photo by Pau BARRENA / AFP)

“While we were battling the fire, we found four people. Emergency services tried to revive them but unfortunately they failed, they could not do anything to save them,” the head of the firefighting operation, Ángel López, told reporters.

Firefighters rescued four other people who were inside the building while putting out the blaze, he added.

Those four were treated for smoke inhalation.

Firefighters rushed to the scene at around 6 am after being warned that a blaze had broken out in the building, Mr Lopez said.

While Mr López said it was not clear how the four dead people were related, Barcelona-based daily newspaper La Vanguardia said they were all members of a Romanian family.

A spokesman for Catalonia’s regional police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, said an investigation had been opened into the causes of the fire.

In December 2020, four people were killed after a blaze ripped through an industrial complex occupied by squatters, many of them African migrants, near Barcelona.

Over 100 squatters were believed to be living in precarious conditions at the abandoned complex in Badalona, a suburban town north of the city.

In addition to the four deaths, more than 20 people were injured in the blaze.

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