- Two adults and a minor died in the fire that started around 2:15 am
Three people have been killed and another 15 injured after a fire broke out in a 24-storey apartment building near Benidorm.
Two adults and a minor died in the fire, which started around 2:15 am this morning in an apartment on the 11th floor.
The three dead are said to be part of the same family. Their nationalities have not yet been announced.
The other victims suffered smoke inhalation. Seven are women aged 24 to 67 and the remaining eight are men and boys aged 13 to 57.
The fire took place in a property in Villajoyosa, about a 10-minute drive from the popular tourist hotspot on the Costa Blanca.
Three people have been killed and another 15 injured in a fire at a building near Benidorm
The fire broke out in a flat on the 11th floor of the 24-storey residential block in Villajoyosa
A local unconfirmed report describes the three dead as a child, his father and the youngster’s grandmother.
Responding to reports that the three people who died, a minor and two adults, were part of the same family, a police spokesman said: “We are still working to identify the victims.”
All but one of the 15 people who suffered smoke inhalation were taken to hospital. A police officer who was also injured was treated at the scene.
On February 22, ten people died after a fire in a residential complex with apartments in Valencia.
A woman was heard shouting in Spanish: “Help, please help” as flames consumed the flat where the three dead people were believed to be trapped.
This morning it was not immediately clear whether she was one of the victims.
In the painful footage published by an onlooker, a man could also be heard screaming.
The apartment building is a two-minute walk from the residential area where Russian defector Maxim Kuzminov was shot dead on February 13.
The 28-year-old helicopter pilot who was branded a traitor by Moscow after defecting to Ukraine last year was living under a false identity after moving to the Costa Blanca late last year.
The murder, which remains under investigation by police, has been blamed on a Putin assassination squad.
The fire took place in a property in Villajoyosa, about a 10-minute drive from the popular tourist hotspot on the Costa Blanca
The victim was shot multiple times in an underground parking garage after leaving a ninth-floor apartment where he had been living.
Police today were investigating the cause of the fire, which led to around 120 people being evacuated from their homes.
Others were ordered to remain within their properties.
A spokesperson for a regional government-run emergency coordination center said: ‘The fire broke out in a flat on the 11th floor of a residential building in Villajoyosa.
“Three firefighters were sent to the scene along with paramedics.
‘We received the alarm at 2.13 am this morning. The fire was extinguished at 7.34am.’
A Civil Guard spokesperson said: ‘This morning at 2:13 am, the Alicante Civil Guard was alerted to a fire on the 11th floor of a 24-storey building in Villajoyosa.
‘Several civil guard units, the local police from Finestrat and Villajoyosa, firefighters from Benidorm, Alicante and San Vicente del Raspeig and several medical teams were present.
‘120 people were evacuated from their homes.
‘At 3.45am the fire brigade said they had extinguished the fire.
‘Three people have died as a result of the fire and have yet to be formally identified. Another 15 minors suffered minor injuries from smoke inhalation.
‘The causes of the fire are currently unknown and Civil Guard investigators are currently working to determine them.’