The fire in the building, which is undergoing renovation work, started before 8 am. According to fire brigade spokesperson Walter Derieuw, a small blaze had broken out on the first and second floors of the building. It was quickly extinguished, but the flames had entered the lift shaft, causing a fire there as well, and the fire spread to the second floor underground. This led to a fierce blaze that was brought under control around 9 am.<\/p>\n
At the time of the fire, approximately 250 workers were present on the site. They were evacuated to BruCity’s staff restaurant, while the fire brigade fought the fire and conducted a ‘Search & Rescue’ operation throughout the building.<\/p>\n
During the evacuation and search, six workers were found to be missing. Two lift shafts had been damaged by the fire while workers were at work, and two lifts were stuck in those shafts. The fire brigade managed to create an opening in one of the lifts and found several victims inside.<\/p>\n
“It is not yet clear exactly how many people are involved,” said Brecht Speybrouck, spokesperson for the Brussels Labour Court. “The Civil Protection is now retrieving the bodies in that lift. If it turns out that not all six missing victims are involved, we will need to search the other lift as well. Due to all the debris, the working conditions are very difficult. The recovery operations will therefore take several more hours.”<\/p>\n