Three dead and 15 injured in fire at flat block in Villajoyosa, near Benidorm

A child and two adults - believed to be members of the same family - were killed in the blaze

Two adults and a child have reportedly died in a fire that has torn through an apartment block near Benidorm.

Fifteen other people are thought to have been injured in the blaze, which broke out at the tower block in Villajoyosa in the early hours of Monday.

The fire is said to have started around 2.15am in a flat on the 11th floor of a 24-storey block, according to Spanish news outlet El Mundo.

Three people - said to be two adults and a child, all from the same family - are said to have died in the fire.

Local reports said they were a boy, father, and grandmother, but this has not been confirmed.

Video footage captured from another building shows the fire raging in an 11th-floor window, while people can be heard screaming.

Around 100 people were reportedly evacuated from the building.

Fourteen people, aged 13 to 67, were reportedly taken to a local hospital where they were treated for smoke inhalation.

A fifteenth man, a police officer, was also treated for smoke inhalation but was discharged at the scene.

El Mundo reports the fire was extinguished by around 7.30am, after firefighters spent around five hours battling the flames.

Villajoyosa is a coastal resort town in Alicante, around 10km south of Benidorm - a hugely popular holiday destination among British tourists.

It is the same town where Maxim Kuzminov, aRussian pilot who defected to Ukraine with his helicopter last year, was reportedly shot dead last month.

Monday’s tragedy comes after 10 people were killed in a blaze that ripped through a tower block in Valencia, around 150km north of Villajoyosa, last week.

A block in Valencia, Spain that was destroyed by a fire
AP

Spanish authorities said on Friday afternoon 14 people remained missing following the Valencia inferno. Fifteen people, including six firefighters and a young child, have been injured.

The building contained 138 flats and was said to be home to 450 residents.

In scenes grimly reminiscent of the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, television footage showed the entire facade of the 14-storey building ablaze with burning segments falling to the pavement below.

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