2024-02-24 01:39:46
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A picture of the complex before the fire
4 hours ago
Spain is still in shock following the fire that broke out in a residential complex in the city of Valencia, killing at least nine people, and 15 others are considered missing.
The authorities had previously announced that ten people had been killed, but they later retracted and said that only nine people had been killed, and the tenth person was considered missing so far.
How did the fire start?
The fire broke out in a 14-storey building in the Campanar area and then spread to neighboring buildings to include a wider area of buildings.
The fire began on Thursday evening on the fourth floor of the largest building in the city, and its causes are not yet known.
The fire quickly spread to other buildings due to the winds that fanned the flames.
Firefighters succeeded in rescuing some residents of the building during the night hours, but they were unable to go beyond the third floor, due to the high heat.
The drones continued to fly over the area and send details regarding the fire to observers, even during the night hours, and also helped in finding survivors.
But there remains a large number of missing people, including a family of four people, including a three-year-old child and a 15-day-old baby girl.
The Spanish media considered the fire to be the worst in the history of the famous Spanish city.
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The building following the fire
What are the possible causes of the fire?
Some experts believe that the building’s outer lining may have been a major factor in the outbreak of the fire and its rapid spread.
This layer helps protect the building from erosion and bad weather, and has become widely used in modern buildings.
Vice-president of Valencia’s School of Industrial Technical Engineering, Esther Buccides, told Spanish media that she had previously inspected the building.
She pointed out that the building’s exterior facades were made of polyurethane, which has long been no longer used for this purpose due to concerns regarding its flammability.
She added that the external facades also included aluminum edges.
She explained, “The reason why the building burns quickly is because of this type of material used in the facades.”
Experts believe that these outer layers contribute to thermal insulation of the building, but the presence of an empty space between them and the following layers of the building makes them highly flammable.
What do we know regarding the burning building?
The Campanar area, where the fire occurred, is one of the wealthiest areas located in the third largest city in Spain. The construction of the building where the accident occurred was completed in 2009 and includes 138 apartments inhabited by regarding 450 people.
FBEX began construction of the building in 2005, amid a rapid rise in real estate prices, but the company went bankrupt regarding 5 years later.
The representative of the Spanish government in Valencia, Pilar Bernabé, said that it is difficult to determine the number of missing people so far, because the building includes many residential apartments, some of which are inhabited by a large number of foreigners.
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