We’ll be closing this blog shortly. Our full story on the fire is here:
Summary
Here is what we know so far about the fire that broke out at the Loafers Lodge hostel in Wellington, New Zealand:
At least six people are dead after a “worst nightmare” fire at a 92-room hostel in New Zealand’s capital, Wellington. The hostel was reportedly at or near capacity.
Authorities expect the death toll to rise, as 11 people are unaccounted for, though the hospital was home to many shift workers, so some residents may not have been there.
The hostel was home to a number of shift workers, elderly people, health workers and people in vulnerable housing conditions, according to residents, advocates, and the local health board.
Emergency services are determining how to access parts of the building, which have collapsed or might otherwise be dangerous to enter, in order to look for bodies. Brendon Nally, the Deputy National Commander of New Zealand’s Fire and Emergency services, said, “The building is quite significantly damaged,” and that parts of the roof had collapsed.
The Loafers Lodge caught alight overnight, prompting an evacuation at the four-storey hostel in the southern Wellington suburb of Newtown.
Around 90 emergency personnel responded to the blaze, which was doused around sunrise on Tuesday. Aerial trucks winched five people to safety.
Police have urged anyone with information around the whereabouts of occupants to come forward.
“This is a major event,” New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said. “We’ve not seen something on this scale in recent times.
Australia’s Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, described the fire as a “dreadful human tragedy” and offered Australia’s help.
People living and working close to the building were warned to keep their windows and doors closed to limit their exposure to the fire – they should also turn their air conditioning off and avoid touching materials from the fire, because of the asbestos risk. But the “health effects from asbestos released from fires is generally considered low risk,” RNZ reported.
New Zealand’s Chief Coroner, Judge Anna Tutton, warned that identifying victims would take time. In a statement she said, “The identification of people who have died in a fire can be a complex and time-consuming process. It is critical that that identification process is conducted properly and that no mistakes are made,” she said.
The hostel building recently passed a fire inspection. New Zealand’s Housing Minister, Megan Woods, says the hostel building passed a fire inspection conducted in February this year. “This building complied with all its obligations that it needed to fulfill as a building as recently as early this year - it was inspected in February, and issued with its BWOF on the third of March,” said Woods.
