{"id":25258,"date":"2026-07-01T15:07:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T15:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/25258\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T15:07:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T15:07:12","slug":"several-people-killed-in-raging-fire-at-antwerp-apartment-block-survivors-describe-harrowing-escapes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/25258\/","title":{"rendered":"Several people killed in &#8216;raging fire&#8217; at Antwerp apartment block, survivors describe harrowing escapes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ANTWERP, July 1- At least six people were killed in a fire \u200bin a 10-story apartment tower in the Belgian city of \u200cAntwerp on Wednesday, police told local media.<\/p>\n<p>Reuters saw rescuers lowering residents from the side of the building by rope. <\/p>\n<p>Survivors described being trapped inside until \u200bpolice and firefighters arrived shortly after the blaze started in the \u200bmorning.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.50146628;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39854346\" width=\"886\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-several-people-died-others-132908664.jpg\" alt=\"Firefighters extinguishing a fire in an apartment building.\" class=\"wp-image-39854346\"  \/>Firefighters try to extinguish a fire in an apartment building in Antwerp, Belgium, July 1, 2026.. ZUMAPRESS.com<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFirst the electricity went out. Three minutes later we got \u2060a fire alarm. By then, there was already smoke in the \u200bhallways,\u201d Geert Dewulf, who lives on the 10th floor, told Belgian broadcaster \u200bVRTNWS.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe tried to get down on our own but we couldn\u2019t manage it anymore. We barricaded ourselves in our apartment and waited on the terrace. About 10 \u200bminutes later, the fire department came to rescue us from the terrace \u200bwith their fire ladder.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another resident, who gave his name as Gerard, described helping \u200ca \u2060neighbour escape from an apartment filled with smoke, but being unable to find her cat.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.50367107;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39854239\" width=\"887\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/rescuers-evacuate-person-site-fire-132912364.jpg\" alt=\"Firefighters evacuate a person in a stretcher hanging from ropes outside an apartment building.\" class=\"wp-image-39854239\"  \/>Rescuers evacuate a person at the site of a fire in an housing building. REUTERS<\/p>\n<p>The building was believed to house about 200 people. <\/p>\n<p>Police told local media that at least six people had been killed. <\/p>\n<p>It \u200bwas still too early \u200bto give \u2060a figure for the number of injured.<\/p>\n<p>Several fire brigades from different districts were on site, as were ambulances and other \u200bemergency crews. <\/p>\n<p>Police told residents nearby to keep doors and \u200bwindows closed \u2060to avoid harm from the smoke.<\/p>\n<p>Belgium\u2019s Prime Minister Bart De Wever, a former mayor of Antwerp, said on X that his thoughts were \u2060with the \u200bvictims.<\/p>\n<p>Belgium has experienced a series of severe \u200bblazes\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/residents-belgian-town-evacuated-due-explosion-risk-burning-building-2026-05-25\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">in the past weeks<\/a>, including\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/fire-warehouse-brussels-suburb-brought-under-control-vrt-2026-06-06\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">one in a warehouse in Brussels<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANTWERP, July 1- At least six people were killed in a fire \u200bin a 10-story apartment tower in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[6],"tags":[19,7,14532,554,142],"class_list":["post-25258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-antwerp","tag-antwerp","tag-belgium","tag-fires","tag-police","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116845349803606751","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}