AP —
At least five people were killed and many others injured in a fire at an apartment building in the Belgian city of Antwerp on Wednesday, police said.
Antwerp police said the fire broke out in the morning on the eighth floor of a building housing more than 200 people in the city’s Rinkeloeber district, sending huge plumes of smoke into the air.
Antwerp police spokesperson Kim Bastiens told Belgian private broadcaster VTM: “Unfortunately, at least five people have died in the fire so far. There are not only minor injuries but also quite a number of serious injuries.”
The 10-storey block was evacuated and local residents were warned to close windows and doors and turn off ventilation if necessary due to the amount of smoke in the air.
Police said firefighters worked under difficult conditions to extinguish the fire due to its size and strength. Several teams of first responders and police, including a specialized drone unit, were dispatched to the scene.
The cause of the fire was not immediately clear, but Bastian said it started on the first floor and that forensic experts were searching the scene.
A medical emergency plan was activated to prevent victims from flooding nearby hospitals.
An Associated Press photographer at the scene said the smoke had subsided by early afternoon, but many first responders were still on the scene.
Television footage from the scene showed a man on an upper floor, engulfed in smoke, hanging from a balcony and heading to a nearby window to get some fresh air.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Weber, a former mayor of Antwerp, said: “My thoughts are with the victims and the evacuated residents of the terrible fire in Rinkeloever.”
“I would like to express my deep gratitude to the emergency services who are working hard to bring the fire under control, trying to rescue the many victims as quickly and safely as possible,” he said in a social media post.
Located in the eastern part of Antwerp, Rinkoeroever is a large residential area dotted with high-rise apartment buildings and adjacent to a large park where outdoor music concerts are held.
