The fire in the Linkeroever district broke out just before 10 a.m. on Wednesday. In the afternoon, the police confirmed that there were at least five fatalities, after previously speaking of six deaths.
"It's a complex fire in a large building," fire department spokesperson Marie De Clercq told Gazet van Antwerpen (GVA).
Several more people are reported to be seriously injured.
Video footage shows dark smoke billowing from the apartment building, which is said to have around 200 residents. In one clip, a man is seen escaping the flames by climbing over his balcony railing and into a nearby window.
I myself saw people being revived, people being carried out lifeless, an eyewitness tells GVA, calling what happened "terrible."
The fire department is still searching for more victims in the building, but as the fire is still raging, it is a difficult task. The cause of the fire is still unknown.
The country's Prime Minister Bart De Wever sends condolences.
"My thoughts are with the victims and the evacuated residents after the terrible fire in Linkeroever," he writes on X.
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