[ad_1]
The warning was given early this Sunday morning. Sapadores de Lisboa and INEM media were sent to the site.
Firefighters continue their search as more victims are feared under the rubble of the four-story building..
The first images, from an amateur video, taken near the scene of the explosion show a column of black smoke.
Overheard by journalists near the building affected by the explosion, the Councilor for Civil Protection of the Lisbon City Council, Carlos Manuel Castro, said that it was decided to mobilize a kinotechnical team to search for possible victims.
“The indication we have is that nine people lived in the building. Of these nine people, there are two who have already been contacted, they were not in the building. A priori, everything indicates that there are five injured people, it only remains to confirm if they are people in the building or people who were passing. In this sense, we suspect here that two people are missing. We are going to go ahead with the kinotechnical team of the Sapper Fire Regiment, ”said the mayor.
The Councilor for Civil Protection also indicated that the first data points to a gas explosion.
The five wounded were taken to the São José Hospital, one of the wounded remains hospitalized and in serious condition and the remaining four have already been discharged.
Dogs look for possible victims
As the Councilor for Civil Protection had already advanced, the commander of the Lisbon Sapadores, Tiago Lopes, confirmed the mobilization of cynotechnical means to search for possible victims under the rubble.
“If the dogs do not detect life, we will have to enter a retreat [de escombros] in a meticulous way so as not to generate more damage to the surrounding buildings, ”he added, highlighting that it is a job that can take hours.
“We can only move a stone when we are sure that there is no one underneath,” he added.
The official stressed that these buildings are still “made of resistant stones and partitions, which makes the building and adjacent buildings fragile.”
Tiago Lopes reported that the fire was extinguished in front of the building, and it continues to fight in the afternoon, although circumscribed and without danger of passing to the neighboring buildings.
(in update)
