Latvia fire: ‘Illegal’ hostel blaze kills eight including foreign nationals amid desperate search for loved ones

The mayor of Riga vowed to shut down the illegal hostel amid reports of beds crammed into attic rooms and people sleeping in the stairs
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At least eight people including foreign nationals have died in a fire at an “illegal tourist hostel” in the Latvian capital of Riga.

The inferno erupted in the city centre shortly after 4.30am on Wednesday when plumes of smoke were seen billowing from the rooftops and the building became engulfed in flames.

Firefighters used cranes and hoses to tackle the blaze which began on the sixth floor of the illegal hostel.

A desperate search is now underway among those wishing to know if their loved ones are safe.

So far eight people, some of them foreign nationals, are known to have perished in the blaze.

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AFP via Getty Images

A further nine people were found injured of which at least six were rushed to hospital with burns and smoke inhalation, according to local media.

City mayor Martins Stakis vowed to shut down the illegal hostel following the tragedy.

He said: “This was not a (real) hostel. This was an apartment that was used as a hostel. It is very likely that this is not the only such apartment in Riga and we must fix this.”

Emergency services were called at 4.43am and 24 people were evacuated and a criminal investigation is underway.

Mayor Stakis said the hostel, set up in an apartment near the city’s main railway station, was called Japanese Style Centrum and mainly used by foreigners, but it was not clear yet who the victims were.

Pictures of its premises show beds tightly packed into small attic rooms on website booking.com website.

“Rooms looked like a shoe box,” Sofia from Spain wrote in a review on the website after staying in the hostel in February.

Another review, by a Latvian called Viktorija who stayed there in March, said the room had no window and no ventilation, while others spoke of long-term residents living alongside visiting tourists.

“People sleeping in the stairs,” an anonymous reviewer from Australia wrote in December.

The hostel did not immediately respond to questions sent via the website inquiry form.

In February, officials were refused entry to carry out a fire safety inspection.

Hotels and hostels in the picturesque Baltic state have remained free to operate throughout the Covid pandemic but numbers of foreign visitors have dropped sharply.

The nation of 1.9 million has reported 2,106 deaths the virus, with daily cases rising recently but still well below January’s peak.

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AFP via Getty Images

Amid the chaotic scenes, it was initially thought seven people had died in the Riga fire but another victim was found later.

State Police representative Andrejs Grišins said at a press conference that their identities will not be publicly disclosed at present, reports LSM.LV.

Those affected, including foreigners, asked to turn to Rīga social services for help.

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