Five Moroccan youths aged 14 to 17 were killed in a fire that broke out Monday evening in a building in Manlleu, in Catalonia (northeastern Spain), the Kingdom’s consulate in Barcelona said.
The fire started in a storage area in the building’s loft, where the victims were present. All were high school students in the commune of Manlleu, according to the same source.
The Kingdom’s Consulate General in Barcelona affirmed that it had coordinated with local authorities to repatriate the bodies.
The fire also left four people slightly injured, according to Catalan emergency services, which noted the presence of mattresses and various highly flammable objects that may have contributed to the rapid spread of the flames inside the building.
The President of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Salvador Illa, said he was “shaken” by the tragic event and extended his condolences to the victims’ families.
The mayor of Manlleu, Arnau Rovira, for his part, declared three days of mourning, with flags to be flown at half-mast and a minute of silence to be observed in front of the town hall.