Five killed in Antwerp apartment block fire

At least five people were killed and several others injured Wednesday after a fire tore through a 10-storey apartment block in Antwerp, sending thick black smoke through the building and forcing firefighters to rescue residents from balconies, Belgian authorities said.

Police said the local fire department received a call at 9:53 a.m. about a “raging fire” on the eighth floor of the block in Linkeroever, a residential area of Antwerp. More than 200 people live in the building.

Thick smoke was seen billowing from the eighth floor as fire crews, ambulances and emergency teams converged on the scene. Video from the building showed a man surrounded by smoke on an upper-floor balcony, leaning out for air before clambering through a neighbor’s window to escape.

Police spokeswoman Kim Bastiaens told Belgian public television that the fire had taken “a heavy toll here at Linkeroever,” adding that a number of people had suffered serious and minor injuries. Police said the bodies of a number of victims had already been found.

Firefighters searched the building flat by flat for possible victims. They said smoke had spread quickly through the apartment block, complicating evacuations and hampering efforts to bring the blaze under control.

“This is a very complex fire with poor visibility and heavy smoke inside the building. That makes it more difficult to extinguish,” Marie De Clercq, a spokesperson for the Antwerp Fire Zone, was quoted as saying by The Brussels Times. The BBC also reported her saying that poor visibility and thick smoke had made the fire difficult to put out.

Resident Geert Dewulf told VRT that smoke stopped him from leaving his apartment. “We barricaded ourselves into our flat and waited on the balcony,” he said. “The fire brigade came to rescue us from the balcony 10 minutes or so later with their ladder.”

Another man said his parents-in-law, including former Antwerp mayor Bob Cools, had been evacuated from the building and taken to hospital. He said rescuers had tried to save the family’s cat but were unable to do so. “We tried our utmost to save the cat but unfortunately in the end we were unable to,” he said.

Authorities said it was too early to determine what caused the fire. Witnesses told De Standaard newspaper that work was being carried out on the roof, according to the BBC.

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, who previously served as mayor of Antwerp, said on social media that his “thoughts are with the victims and the evacuated residents of the terrible fire on Linkeroever.”

“My deep appreciation goes out to the emergency services who are striving to help the many affected people as quickly and safely as possible, and who are working hard to bring the fire under control,” he said.

Linkeroever is a large residential district with high-rise apartment buildings and borders a major park where outdoor summer concerts are held, Al Jazeera reported.