emergencies
New Zealand: Number of deaths after hostel fire still unclear
Several people died in a fire at a hostel in New Zealand’s capital, Wellington. photo
© Masanori Udagawa/AAP/dpa
A fire broke out at Loafers Lodge on Monday. More than 50 people are saved – but for others any help comes too late. It is still unclear how many people died in the fire.
After the flames in a hostel in New Zealand’s capital Wellington, the number of victims is still unclear. After the building was secured, emergency services would begin this afternoon (local time) to search for missing people and recover the fatalities already located, Police Chief Dion Bennett said.
Yesterday, the authorities had spoken of at least six dead and eleven missing. The devastating fire in the three-story Loafers Lodge in the Newtown district broke out late Monday evening for reasons that are still unclear.
“Police are now the lead agency in relation to the fire investigation and we can confirm that we consider the fire to be suspicious,” said Bennett. What suspicions the authorities have, he left open. The investigation of the building will be “an extensive and methodical process”: “We assume that it will take some time – probably several days.”
More than 50 people had been rescued from the burning building. Some escaped to the roof. The chief of the local fire department had described the fire as “the worst nightmare”. The rescue work for people trapped on the upper floors was also hampered by the fact that the fire brigade only had a large aerial ladder vehicle at its disposal. A second fire engine with a turntable ladder was defective, the radio station Radio New Zealand reported.