Woman heard screaming 'help please' in blaze that left three dead and 15 injured
Three people have died and another 15 have been injured in a fire at a property near Benidorm - with a woman heard screaming: "Help, help please".
A five-year-old boy, his dad and grandmother have lost their lives in the blaze which started around 2.15am this morning. They are believed to have been trapped. The child was found by firefighters cuddling a pet. The other casualties suffered smoke inhalation. Seven are women aged 24 to 67 and the other eight men aged 13 to 57.
The blaze ripped through the 11th floor of a 24-storey building in Villajoyosa, Spain - around a 10-minute drive from Benidorm. All but one of the 15 people who suffered smoke inhalation have been taken to hospital. A police officer also among those hurt was treated at the scene.
The Civil Guard confirmed reports the trio were members of the same family as they released footage showing investigators inside the gutted apartment. A spokesman said: “The three people who died have been confirmed to be a five-year-old boy, his father and his grandmother. It appears the fire started accidentally.”
A neighbour told local press: “We were asleep and I was woken up by a person yelling, ‘We have to get out, we have to get out, and the firefighters arrived really quickly.”
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A woman could be heard screaming in Spanish: “Help, help please” as flames took hold of the flat where the three people who died are believed to have been trapped. It was not immediately clear this morning if she was one of the victims. A man could also be heard yelling in the agonising footage published by an onlooker.
Three people have died in the blaze near Benidorm (SOLARPIX.COM)
One child is among those who died (SOLARPIX.COM)A spokesman for a regional government-run emergency response coordination centre said: “The fire broke out in a flat on the 11th floor of a residential apartment block in Villajoyosa. Three fire crews were sent to the scene along with paramedics. We received the alarm at 2.13am this morning. The blaze was put out at 7.34am.”
A spokesman for the Civil Guard said: “At 2:13 this morning the Alicante Civil Guard was alerted about a fire on the 11th floor of a 24-storey building in Villajoyosa. Several Civil Guard Units, local Police from Finestrat and Villajoyosa, firefighters from Benidorm, Alicante and San Vicente del Raspeig and several medical teams attended.
“120 people were evacuated from their homes. At 3:45am firefighters said they had put out the blaze. As a result of the fire three people who have yet to be formally identified have died. Another 15 minor people suffered minor injuries caused by smoke inhalation. The causes of the fire are currently unknown and Civil Guard investigators are currently working on establishing them.”
The blaze was on the 11th floor of the building (ASSOCIATED PRESS)One local unconfirmed report has described the three dead as a child, his dad, and the youngster’s grandmother. Responding to reports the three people who lost their lives, a minor and two adults, were part of the same family, the police spokesman said: “We are still working on the identification of the victims at the moment.”
The 11th floor flat where the blaze began is in a 24-storey residential block is a two-minute walk from the residential estate where Russian defector Maxim Kuzminov was shot dead on February 13.
The 28-year-old, the helicopter pilot 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.
A member of the Provincial Firefighters Consortium, in the Villajoyosa fire (Provincial Firefighters Consortium)The killing, which is still being investigated by police, has been blamed on a Putin hit squad. The victim was shot several times in an underground car park after leaving a ninth-floor flat where he had been living.
Police were today investigating the cause of the overnight blaze, which led to around 120 people being evacuated from their homes. Others were ordered to stay inside their properties.
On February 22 ten people died after a fire at a residential block of apartments in Valencia.
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