Two die in fire at building used by migrants in Barcelona

At least two people have died in a fire in an abandoned industrial building squatted by migrants near Barcelona.

The fire in Badalona, a suburban town of 200,000 north of the Spanish city, also injured at least 18 people, including three who were in a very critical condition, authorities said.

Catalonia’s acting regional chief, Pere Aragonès, said 60 people had been accounted for so far, but that the industrial building could had been occupied by more than 100 squatters.

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Work was under way to fully extinguish the flames and stabilise the structure to safely access it and look for anyone else who might be trapped inside, Aragonès told the Spanish public broadcaster TVE.

The blaze broke out in the small hours while the building’s residents were asleep.

Dozens of people, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, have been sleeping in the building. One resident told local media that as many as 150 people slept there every night.

Moisés, a Moroccan man who slept in the building, told La Vanguardia newspaper that the fire was started by a candle, but this has not been confirmed by authorities.

Aragonès said many occupants were believed to be in Spain without permission and had left the scene without being taken care of as soon as they escaped the flames. “There has been a tragedy above the economic tragedy in which many of the people already found themselves,” he said.

Xavier García Albiol, the mayor of Badalona, described the situation as a tragedy. He said social services were caring for about 60 people and that it was impossible to know how many had been inside.

“It could have been as many as 200, the numbers fluctuated,” he said. “For years we’ve known this could end in tragedy.”

Most of the injured were being treated for trauma after they jumped from the building to escape the flames, the emergency coordinator Francisco Tebar told TVE. About 30 people were rescued from windows before the roof collapsed at various points.

Pedro Sánchez, the Spanish prime minister, tweeted that he was following events closely and expressed sorrow at the loss of life.

Record numbers of migrants have been arriving in the Canary Islands in recent months, and they are gradually redistributed throughout the Spanish mainland, many in Barcelona.

The migrants are forced to live in a legal limbo, as under Spanish immigration laws they are not allowed to work. Until recently many scraped a living as manteros, street vendors who sell low-cost copies of trainers and designer handbags. Others collected scrap metal in shopping trolleys.

However, Covid restrictions have put a stop to these activities and pushed many people into even more perilous conditions. Before the pandemic, it was estimated that about 500 manteros were operating in Barcelona, with many more in nearby coastal towns.

Associated Press contributed to this report