Three die in Badalona in apartment building blaze

Three people lost their lives and another 30 were injured, with 16 hospitalised, in a fire yesterday morning in a 10-storey building in the Sant Roc neighbourhood, in Badalona. One of the people who died was a 92-year-old woman, while among those injured were a newborn baby, which is in a critical condition, and two adults, who are seriously injured after jumping from the eighth floor to escape the flames. The various wounded people were taken to the Vall d’Hebron, Sant Pau, Mar and Germans Trias hospitals.

The fire began around 9am on the ground floor, and climbed the building up the stairway. Firefighters had the blaze under control at about 11.30am. However, there were complaints among locals about how long it took the firefighters to arrive – some 40 minutes, according to them – which interior minister, Miquel Buch, later contradicted, saying that the alarm was raised at 9.09am, with the first fire engine arriving at 9.18am. Meanwhile, the mayor of Badalona, Àlex Pastor, praised the “quick” response of the emergency services, claiming that it had avoided an even greater “tragedy”.

President Quim Torra went to see the injured people who had been taken to the Vall d’Hebron hospital before going to Badalona to visit those affected by the accident.