At least thirteen people, including seven children according to a still provisional assessment, died this Wednesday, January 5 in a large fire affecting an apartment building in the center of Philadelphia, in the eastern United States.
The news was made by the city’s firefighters, before being picked up en masse by the American media.
“For the moment, the toll is 13 dead,” said a representative of the firefighters, specifying that this figure could still evolve.
“It was terrible (…) it’s a terrible record,” he added, during an impromptu press briefing broadcast live on Twitter.
The fire under control, the results uncertain
Philadelphia firefighters arrived at the scene at 6:40 am (11:40 GMT) and faced “an intense fire from the second floor of a house” which has three.
“It took fifty minutes to bring the fire under control,” they said in a tweet.
The drama took place in the central and residential neighborhood of Fairmont, where the great museums of Philadelphia are located.
