(Wellington) At least six people died Tuesday in the fire of a four-story hotel housing workers and disadvantaged people in the center of the New Zealand capital Wellington.
Huge flames and thick smoke rose overnight from Monday to Tuesday from the top floor of the Loafers Lodge, a 92-room hotel in central Wellington.
“It’s an absolute tragedy,” said New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, who confirmed six deaths. “But it looks like there are probably more.”
Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau said she expects more than six casualties.
Firefighters rescued 52 people. They used a tall ladder to evacuate residents trapped on the roof, some “from an area that was directly above the flames”, the deputy commander of the National Fire Services and relief, Brendan Nally.
Eleven people are still missing, but this number should “slightly” drop, he then told the press.
There were no sprinklers in the hostel and the fire alarm did not go off automatically, Mr Nally added.
“I had to jump”
One of the residents, Tala Sili, said smoke billowed under his door before he decided to jump to a roof two stories below.
“I was on the top floor and couldn’t get through the hallway because there was too much smoke, so I had to jump out the window,” he told RNZ.
“It was scary, really scary, but I knew I had to jump out the window or burn inside the building,” he added.
Rescuers rescued him from the roof.
Another survivor, named Chris, told public broadcaster TVNZ he crawled out of his room to escape the toxic smoke.
“I went up to the stairwell. Everything was black and thick like smoke. It was hard to breathe. Everything has disappeared. My room was destroyed. I took my vaper and my phone but I left my shoes,” he said.
The emergency services estimate that around 90 people were in the establishment at the time of the fire. Several residents said the building’s smoke detector went off so often that they doubted it was a real emergency.
Six people were taken to hospital, including one in critical condition, and 15 others were treated at the scene, according to the emergency services.
“A fire like this only happens once every ten years in Wellington. It’s the worst nightmare for us, “said emergency services manager Nick Pyatt.
“Convenient and affordable accommodation”
This hotel accommodates both long-term and short-term residents, said the Mayor of Wellington.
According to her, some of them are vulnerable people, who live on low incomes or stay in a “transitional” way in New Zealand, a country where there is a housing crisis.
“For our Wellington community, this is a dark day,” said Ms.me Whanau during a television interview.
A police spokesman, however, estimated that the final death toll should “not exceed ten”.
On its website, the Loafers Lodge presents itself as a “convenient and affordable place to stay”. It offers single rooms and shared kitchens and living spaces.
The Prime Minister explained that many night workers or daily workers were staying in this hotel, which complicated the way of determining the number of people who were inside at the time of the fire.
“We will have the opportunity to verify that this building complied with all the rules that it had to respect,” Mr Hipkins said.
The cause of the fire remains for the moment “unexplained”, indicated the police who announced the opening of an investigation.