Five dead after fire at apartment building in Spain

The cause of the blaze is not yet known, but authorities said victims were unable to escape an attic storage room.

The blaze broke out at a five-storey building in Manlleu in the northeast of the country on Monday night.

The fire started in the storage room of the property, emergency services said.

The cause of the blaze is not yet known – and authorities said victims, who have not been identified, were unable to escape an attic storage room.

Catalan police said the five dead were all young people and that they did not live in the building.

Catalonia’s regional leader, Salvador Illa, said he was “deeply saddened by the death of five people”.

Among the injured, four were later released from hospitals while one other didn’t require hospital treatment.

Three families have been relocated to a nearby hotel with the rest returning to the building, The General Directorate of Civil Protection in Catalonia wrote on social media.

The organisation also announced that an alert related to the fire had also ended.

Authorities said ambulances and psychological support teams were made available.

Catalan police have opened an investigation into the cause of the fire.