Six people have been confirmed dead in a fire that broke out on Tuesday morning at the OXY Tower renovation site on Place de Brouckère in central Brussels.
The deaths were confirmed late on Tuesday by the labour division of the public prosecutor’s office. Spokeswoman Valentina Marocchi said rescuers had opened a lift and found six bodies inside.
She said it had not yet been formally confirmed whether the bodies were those of the six workers initially reported missing. She added that the bodies had been recovered, identification was under way, and the victims’ families were being brought to the scene.
Rescue teams continued to search the second lift shaft during the evening, but no victims were found there.
Fire broke out in lift shafts
The fire broke out at about 07:30 in the lift shafts of the building on Place De Brouckère, where the former administrative headquarters of the City of Brussels is being converted into a mixed-use complex in the heart of the capital.
Around 250 people were on site at the time, according to the public prosecutor’s office. After the site was evacuated, six workers, believed to be Belgian or Romanian nationals, were reported missing.
The authorities said formal identification is still under way by a forensic doctor and the federal police’s Disaster Victim Identification team. As a result, they have not yet officially confirmed that the bodies are those of the six missing people.
The site has since been closed and sealed off as part of the investigation.
Fire and forensic experts have been appointed, while Brussels-Capital/Ixelles police, inspectors from the National Social Security Office and the workplace wellbeing inspectorate are also involved.
Investigators will now seek to establish the cause of the accident and reconstruct exactly how the events unfolded.
The public prosecutor’s office said it would make no further comment until all the victims had been identified, out of respect for them and their families and to avoid jeopardising the investigation.
If the inquiry allows, an updated statement will be issued later next week, it added.
King Philippe and Prime Minister Bart De Wever visited Place de Brouckère on Tuesday afternoon to meet firefighters and ambulance crews at the scene.
