4 burnt to death after fire engulfs high-rise building in Spain

The fire engulfing a 14-story residential block in the eastern Spanish city of Valencia has claimed four lives, and 14 more people are still missing, official sources confirmed on Friday, reported Xinhua.

The fire started around 17:30 local time (1630 GMT) on Thursday in the building with 138 flats that has around 450 residents, according to local media.

Firefighters and policemen managed to enter the building on Friday morning to search for the missing people.

Fifteen people, including seven firemen, were injured in the blaze. Although five remained in the hospital, none of them were in serious condition.

The blaze began in the middle part of the building but rapidly spread to engulf the whole apartment in just half an hour.

According to local media reports, a combination of winds gusting at around 60 km an hour and the cladding on the exterior of the construction assisted the spreading of the fire.

The building was covered in a highly flammable 10-cm-thick layer of polyurethane cladding, which caught fire and helped the fire spread at devastating speed.