{"id":28768,"date":"2026-07-14T17:42:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T17:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/28768\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T17:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T17:42:08","slug":"several-people-found-dead-in-lift-after-fire-at-brussels-construction-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/28768\/","title":{"rendered":"Several people found dead in lift after fire at Brussels construction site"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A devastating fire ripped through a building undergoing renovation in central <a data-ylk=\"slk:Brussels;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/brussels\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Brussels<\/a> on Tuesday, leaving two people injured and six unaccounted for.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities in the Belgian capital later confirmed the grim discovery of several charred bodies within an elevator at the site.<\/p>\n<p>The blaze originated on the second floor of the building, located in a prominent shopping district, before rapidly spreading into a lift shaft, according to Brecht Speybrouck, a spokesperson for the Labor Audit Office.<\/p>\n<p>A total of 250 workers were evacuated from the site. Two people sustained severe burns and were hospitalised, while six others remained missing.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Speybrouck confirmed that charred remains were found inside one of the elevators, though he did not specify a number or clarify if these victims were among those initially reported missing.<\/p>\n<p>Emergency services faced significant challenges in accessing the affected lift shaft.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Brecht Speybrouck, a spokesman for the Labor Audit Office, said 250 workers at the site were evacuated, two were taken to a hospital with severe burns and six were missing (Associated Press)\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img w-full w-full h-auto\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/aol_the_independent_us_877\/306e431f74b9d989947e7b5e1d3fcc36.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Brecht Speybrouck, a spokesman for the Labor Audit Office, said 250 workers at the site were evacuated, two were taken to a hospital with severe burns and six were missing (Associated Press)<\/p>\n<p><a data-ylk=\"slk:Brussels;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/brussels\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Brussels<\/a> mayor Philippe Close said that thermal cameras and sniffer dogs were deployed in the desperate search for victims.<\/p>\n<p>He commended the swift response, stating: &#8220;firefighters, rescue workers and police were there immediately. Everyone knew what they had to do and that probably helped to avoid a greater tragedy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a data-ylk=\"slk:Belgium;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/belgium\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Belgium<\/a>&#8216;s King Phillipe toured the site several hours later.<\/p>\n<p>Belgian Interior Minister Bernard Quintin said he was &#8220;shocked&#8221; by the incident.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My thoughts go out to the victims, their loved ones, and everyone still in uncertainty,&#8221; Quintin said in a post on social media. &#8220;A sincere thank you to our fire department and all emergency services for their dedication.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A devastating fire ripped through a building undergoing renovation in central Brussels on Tuesday, leaving two people injured&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[15888,18,15928,15930,15927,15904,15929],"class_list":["post-28768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brussels","tag-brecht-speybrouck","tag-brussels","tag-charred-bodies","tag-grim-discovery","tag-labor-audit-office","tag-lift-shaft","tag-severe-burns"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116919569508501921","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28768","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=28768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}