A TWO-WEEK old baby is one of 15 victims that remain unaccounted for as authorities continue to search for survivors following a Valencia fire dubbed as ‘Spain’s Grenfell’.
Emergency services attending the scene are using drones to fly over the charred remains of two towers engulfed in a terrifying inferno on Thursday afternoon in the Campanar neighbourhood of Spain’s third largest city.
Four people were confirmed to have died after one of the drones spotted four scorched bodies on a balcony.
Alongside the confirmed deaths, 15 victims are being treated for their injuries and 15 more remain missing.
Among the missing are a newly-married young couple with a two-year old toddler and a two-week old newborn baby.
The fire has been described by authorities as Valencia’s ‘worst ever’, with the city council announcing three days of mourning following the blaze.
Videos circulating on social media showed desperate residents stranded on their balconies as the raging flames swept through the adjoining apartment blocks, aided by high winds.
“Valencia is going through a very sad moment”, said Maria Jose Catala, the region’s mayor.
Experts believe that the buildings, home to 450 people, were quickly engulfed in fire thanks to highly flammable cladding on the exterior of the building.
Some 72 people died in the Grenfell Tower fire in London in 2017 after similar combustible cladding saw a fire quickly spread.
Sources close to the scene in Valencia have suggested that the fire may have been caused by an electrical fault.
Firefighters continued to fight the blaze into the early hours of Friday morning, with some residents escaping by jumping onto large inflatable emergency mattresses.
Police and firefighters are preparing to enter the building in search of victims.
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