By Mark LowenBBC News, Valencia
BBCOn Thursday a fire swept through a 14-storey apartment block in the Spanish city of Valencia, killing 10 people. The BBC’s Mark Lowen has spoken to the last couple to be rescued from the inferno.
“Once we jumped from our flat to a balcony and could see the flames all around us, that was the moment we thought we were going to die there”, says Sara Jorge.
“But I said to my boyfriend: ‘I refuse to die.’ The conditions around us were telling us it would happen – but I just knew it wasn’t our time,” she adds.
The 26-year-old from Portugal and her Belgian boyfriend were the couple in the dramatic rescue video from Thursday’s fire in Valencia, hoisted to safety by firefighters as flames raged around them, onlookers applauding what appeared to be a miracle.
We speak in the hotel where they’ve been moved, in her first interview with an international journalist.
Sara and her boyfriend were working in their apartment in the coastal Spanish city when they started hearing sirens. A fire had broken out in the next-door building, fourteen stories high.
Within minutes it had engulfed the tower. Their block was linked by a bridge – and the blaze soon spread to their building too, where they lived on the eighth floor.
“We thought at first it was something minimal as we weren’t seeing smoke”, she recalls. “We opened our door and a neighbour said we should go down to the street. So we gathered some things but then when we were coming out, the two girls who lived opposite said everything seemed to be under control and that we should stay at home. So we went back inside. It was very stupid. Soon after, we started seeing the smoke.”
By the time they decided to leave, their building had been swamped by the blaze – and they couldn’t get down the corridor.
The wind, which was gusting at some 60km/h (40mph), had changed direction and was fanning the flames towards their part of the building. So they jumped to a side balcony.
“We refused to hug because that was a sign of giving up”, she says. “We gave each other just a little kiss. And then we started seeing the firemen coming towards us.”
The couple thought the first firefighter would begin the rescue – but he was preparing the area, dousing it with water for a second team to be able to move up.
Sara recalls repeatedly shouting “come and save us” amidst the confusion. For over an hour, they waited on the balcony, breaking the glass so they could climb through. Finally, another firefighter reached them with a crane.
They were the last couple to be saved from the burning wreckage of their tower. Ten people are now known to have died in the blaze.
“We only realised that everybody was watching us coming down as we got to the ground – and later saw the video”, she says. “That was when we understood how lucky we had been.”
Two days on, Sara says she feels numb, still unable to let her emotion out. But when she sees the couple from her neighbouring flat, the tears flow as they hug. Manuel Diaz tells me his girlfriend, who was at home when the fire began, is in shock.
“We feel in a mental battle”, he says, “because we lost everything – but we’re alive. And that’s the most important.”
An investigation has begun into the fire, which began in one apartment in the larger tower and quickly spread. The cladding – the material used on the façade – is suspected of being a major factor, with reports that it was banned in 2019 because of its flammability, but that it was not subsequently removed from buildings that had used it.
Sara tells me she knew the tower had been cheaply built and that the infrastructure was poor, due to frequent flooding. When it rained, walls in the upstairs apartment would flood. Repair teams would repaint and move on.
“There were a lot of red flags”, she says. “But people had their lives there – we had a comfortable apartment, so we stayed. Now I just can’t understand why they let that material stay on the building after it was banned. One day, it was so windy and a piece of it just flew off.”
The towers are now just blackened shells, the life sucked out of them. The larger one, where the fire began, had 138 apartments and around 450 residents.
Those displaced have been told they will stay in hotels until the end of the month and will then be given accommodation in newly-built social housing. Residents have started a fundraising page, on GoFundMe, to help with costs, including paying for funerals of those who didn’t make it.
On the main square in Valencia, outside the city hall, residents gather for a few minutes’ silence. Heads are bowed, some wipe away tears. Then applause rings out for firefighters and some families caught up in the tragedy.
Sara says she hasn’t been able to contact the firefighters since the blaze. When they made it down, they hugged their rescuers – and were then quickly moved to a medical tent and then hospital for checks.
“When we were on the balcony, I could see the firemen looking at us straight in their eyes. That was trust. I felt they couldn’t leave us there. I don’t have the words to express my gratitude to them. They didn’t have to risk their lives but they chose to, and they’re the only reason we’re alive.”
She holds back the tears. “We feel very lucky. It’s a strange feeling: luck mixed with the desire to live. Perhaps only tomorrow I will realise how I really feel.”
Read More: Valencia fire: Last couple saved hail dramatic rescue
