ARCHIVED - At least 3 irregular migrants killed in fire at Catalunya squat

More than 100 people occupy the abandoned warehouse on a permanent basis

At least three people are reported to have died with another 23 injured, four of them seriously, after fire broke out on Wednesday night at an industrial warehouse occupied by squatters in Badalona in Catalunya.

Firefighters believe that more victims may yet be found inside, but the precarious state of the building, which is reportedly occupied on a regular basis by at least a hundred people and sometimes up to 200, has so far made it impossible to ascertain whether this is the case.

Most of those seeking accommodation in the property are irregular African migrants, and during the night many were rescued from the roof while others are reported to have thrown themselves from windows as they attempted to escape the smoke and flames.

The fire in Calle de Guifré broke out shortly before 21.00 and representatives of the regional fire brigade report that it affected two buildings, one of two storeys and the other of three.

The structure of the building has been badly damaged and the cause of the fire is currently unknown and the Mossos are investigating whether the fire was arson or if it was caused by a fire lit by the occupants of the building due to the cold weather.

The mayor of Badalona, Xavier García Albiol (PP), stressed that the local Council had already warned several times about the existence of squatters in the building and the implied risks, and that the police and council received regular complaints from local businesses and residents about the squat. Less than an hour before the fire had started, police had been at the site trying to resolve “problems of coexistence” at the location.

The municipality is no stranger to this type of situation; in January 2019 three people squatting in an empty building died during a fire caused by an illegal connection to the electricity supply.

In this case, some of the “residents” had squatted inside the building for many years, building comfortable homes from waste and scrap materials salvaged from bins and thrown away by local residents.

Squats of this nature can be found in virtually all major cities and are a constant source of concern for their local councils. Just a few days ago a similar squat was dismantled in the City of Murcia following complaints from residents surrounding a skeletal construction project which had never been completed and was home to dozens of irregular migrants.

Sadly, this issue is very much in the headlines at the moment, as over 600 irregular migrants who had reached the Canary Islands in small “pateras” boats have been flown to the Spanish mainland over the Bank Holiday weekend, to 3 locations in Andalucía, as well as Alicante and Valencia, and released onto Spanish soil.

With no right to work, they are now free to continue their journeys onto other countries or try to find illegal work in Spain; those who stay will almost inevitably end up in locations such as this one, and be vulnerable to exploitation or abuse.

The Spanish Government is obliged to admit these irregular migrants to Spain if it is unable to deport them back to their country of origin, but is not obliged to legalise their status so they can work; the Government fears that should it legalise these irregular arrivals, then tens of thousands more will make the journey; unskilled labour for which there is currently little demand in Spain.