Five Young People Die in Rooftop Fire at Manlleu Apartment Block
Tragic blaze in storage room near Barcelona kills five youths overnight; investigators probe escape failure as town declares mourning.
Key Points
- Fire erupted 9:55pm Monday in rooftop storage room where victims slept, killing five young people.
- Firefighters extinguished blaze in 30 minutes; five survivors had minor injuries, most treated on-site.
- Mossos d'Esquadra investigating cause and rooftop use; no structural damage to building.
- Manlleu declares three-day mourning; Interior Minister Núria Parlon visited site.
Five young people died and five others suffered minor injuries in a fire that broke out late on Monday evening in an apartment block on Carrer Montseny in Manlleu, Osona region near Barcelona.
The blaze started in a storage room on the building's rooftop, where the victims had been spending the night. Investigators are still determining why they could not escape. Firefighters from the Generalitat were alerted at 9:55pm and deployed 13 units to the scene. They extinguished the flames within half an hour but found the five fatalities inside the structure.
The emergency medical service mobilised 11 ambulances and two psychological support teams. Three of the four people with minor injuries were treated on site and discharged, while the fourth declined hospital transfer.
Police officers from the Mossos d'Esquadra have taken charge of the probe into the fire's cause and the use of the rooftop storage areas. A judicial team removed the bodies in the early hours of Tuesday. With no structural damage confirmed in the building, residents were allowed to return home.
Manlleu town hall declared three days of official mourning. Several officials, including Interior Minister Núria Parlon, visited the site and offered condolences for the tragedy.
Original Sources
This article was aggregated from the following Catalan-language sources: