As the world rang in the New Year with fireworks and celebrations, some emergency services were stretched thin as fires broke out in cities and communities, causing damage and, in some cases, deaths.
Here are some of the fire incidents around the world that occurred this week.
Amsterdam church
A huge inferno gutted a 19th-century Amsterdam church on Thursday, as the Netherlands endured an unsettled New Year’s Eve with two dead from fireworks and “unprecedented” violence against police.
The blaze broke out in the early hours at the Vondelkerk, a tourist attraction that has overlooked one of the city’s top parks since 1872.
The 50-metre-high (164-foot) tower collapsed, and the roof was badly damaged, but the structure was expected to remain intact, authorities in Amsterdam said.
The cause of the blaze was not immediately clear.
Fire at luxury Swiss ski resort
A fire ripped through a crowded bar in the luxury Swiss ski resort town of Crans-Montana as revellers rang in the New Year, killing and injuring several people, police said early Thursday.
Police, firefighters and rescuers rushed to the popular resort, one of Europe’s top-ranked ski destinations, with Swiss media reporting the toll could soar into the dozens.
The “fire of undetermined origin” broke out in a bar popular with tourists, police in the Wallis canton in southwestern Switzerland said in a statement.
A police spokesman named the bar as Le Constellation, which has a capacity of 300 people and another 40 people on its terrace, according to the Crans-Montana website.
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The spokesman said some 100 people had gathered there for New Year’s celebrations.
A tourist from New York filmed bright orange flames pouring from the bar, and told AFP he saw people running and screaming in the dark.
“Several people lost their lives, and others were injured,” the police statement said, describing the incident as “serious” and adding that “a major emergency response is underway”.
“A large contingent of police, firefighters, and rescue workers immediately went to the scene to assist the numerous victims,” it said.
“The operation is still ongoing.”
Nigeria building fire
A 25-storey Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) building in Lagos was burnt on 24 December.
On Wednesday, 31 December, the Lagos State government page on X announced that one more body had been recovered from the building.
Other updates
- 8 injured males, including a fireman, were taken to the hospital.
- 3 males and 2 females suffered minor injuries, were administered first aid and thereafter released at the scene.
- 1 adult female was extricated dead from the collapsed structure
- Two adult males were extricated
- 3 Persons burnt beyond recognition
The Lagos State Government has called on residents and businesses in the area of the burnt building to leave immediately.
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“The government sent in experts who evaluated the site of the fire and warned strongly against the inherent danger to lives and property of residents and businesses within a 100-metre radius of the site,” it said on X.
“Several buildings around the scene of the fire are compromised and must be evacuated, according to experts.
“Shop owners are breaking into the no-movement barrier zone created at the perimeter of the scene of the fire. This is dangerous and must stop.”
Indonesia nursing home
A fire at a nursing home on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi killed more than a dozen people, with three others injured, a local official said Monday.
Firefighters received the report of the blaze at 8:31 pm Sunday at a nursing home in the North Sulawesi provincial capital Manado, said the city’s fire and rescue agency chief Jimmy Rotinsulu.
“There were 16 deaths; three people had burn injuries,” he told AFP.
Many bodies of the victims were found inside their rooms, Jimmy said, adding that many of the elderly residents were likely resting in their rooms in the evening when the fire broke out.
Authorities managed to evacuate 12 people — all unhurt — and transfer them to a local hospital, he said.
Additional reporting by Vhahangwele Nemakonde
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