On Saturday the Provincial Fire Brigade responded to a fire in a building located at number 80 on Calle Ulpiano shortly after noon. The fire started at around 11:49 in the building located just a few metres from the central Playa del Cura. The block of flats, with a ground floor and three upper floors, has been unfinished for around fifteen years with many of its 18 flats occupied by homeless people.
The fire was mainly concentrated in the basement and lift shaft areas which were fill of peoples belongings and mattresses that caused the rapid spread of the flames. Three people who were on the third floor and tried to escape down the stairwell were injured with various degrees of burns and smoke inhalation.
Two of the occupants suffered serious burns and were taken to hospital. The severity of the burns of one of the injured, a man whose age is unknown, saw him transferred by helicopter to La Fe Hospital in Valencia.
The remaining residents who stayed inside were later evacuated when the situation allowed them to leave safely.
The helicopter landed and took off from the esplanade-viewpoint next to the Tintero viewing point, to the surprise of the thousands of bathers who were on La Cura beach at that time.
The building was constructed at the height of the real estate crisis in the late 2000s and the apartments, many of which have been occupied over the years, were never sold. Residents of neighbouring properties have been making complaints to the Torrevieja Council about the situation of the building for years.
