At least six people died in a major fire in a hostel in the center of New Zealand's capital Wellington on Tuesday night. 52 people have been rescued so far, several of them from the roof of the building, the fire department said. However, dozens of people are still missing. According to a spokesman for the fire brigade and rescue workers, there were about 90 people in the hostel when the fire broke out. It is not yet known why the fire broke out.
High flames and thick smoke could be seen above the roof of Loafers Lodge in the centre of town as 80 firefighters battled the fire with 20 fire engines in the early hours of the morning. With the help of a ladder, they rescued people from the roof, as the spokesman for the fire and rescue services, Brendan Nally, announced.
"They got quite a lot of people from the top of the roof, from an area just above the fire," Nally told Radio New Zealand. "There was no other way. These people would have died if our team hadn't intervened." There was no sprinkler system in the hostel and the fire alarm did not go off automatically, he added.
A resident of the hostel, who gave only his first name – Chris – told public broadcaster TVNZ that he crawled out of his room on all fours to escape the thick smoke. He had reached the stairwell, which was black and full of smoke. "It was hard to breathe. Everything is gone. My room is destroyed. I grabbed my e-cigarette and phone instead of my shoes," he said.
The fire was "an absolute tragedy," said New Zealand's Prime Minister Chris Hipkins. It is "likely" to assume more deaths. According to Hipkins, many shift workers lived in the hostel, so it is unclear how many people were in it when the fire broke out.
Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau said she feared "much more" than six deaths. It was "absolutely shocking". Both long-term and short-term guests lived in the hostel, including people with low incomes and those who were only "temporarily" staying in New Zealand. "It's a dark day for us in Wellington," she said in a television interview.