“Thirteen people were injured. Of these thirteen, six were firefighters, which underscores the seriousness of the work they do,” Jorge Suarez Torres, deputy director of local emergency services, told reporters at the scene.
He did not provide details on the severity of the people's injuries. The first report by authorities, which earlier reported seven injuries, noted burns on the hands of two firefighters and people suffering from smoke inhalation.
The fire broke out at around 5:30pm (4:30pm GMT) on the fourth floor of the 138-apartment building, which was built about 10 years ago.
According to the testimonies of local residents, it spread through the facade to other sites at an incredible speed, raising a huge number of fears.
“It (the building) looks like it's made of straw,” one of them said on public television.
The building, located in the El Campanor district, was engulfed in thick black smoke and none of the apartments escaped the blaze.
Twenty-two teams of firefighters were sent to the site to try to put out the fire, rescuers said in X. There are eight medical units at the disaster site where a field hospital has been set up.
Strong winds in Valencia on Thursday made firefighters' work more difficult, officials said.
“We ask the residents of other parts of the city not to approach the fire to facilitate the work of the mobilized rescue teams,” wrote the mayor of Valencia, María José Catala X.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said he was “stunned by the terrible fire that broke out in a building in Valencia”.
The Socialist leader said the central state had provided “all necessary assistance” to the local authorities and expressed his “solidarity with all the victims”.
The country was recently marked by a dramatic fire at a nightclub in Murcia (southeast) in early October that killed 13 people.
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