A COUPLE who fled the war in Ukraine were caught up in Valencia's horror fire which killed four after the building's alarm system failed.
Dubbed "Spain's Grenfell", a raging inferno ripped through the complex's flammable cladding in just minutes on Thursday.
Shocking footage showed firefighters working to tackle the blaze and rescue stranded residents from balconies as burning debris fell to the pavement.
At least 14 people are still missing as the tragic search for residents continues today but firefighters have said none are thought to be alive.
Ukrainians Dymitro and Oksana who fled Putin's war for a safer life Valencia, are now homeless after their fourth-floor flat went up in flames.
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"We arrived in Valencia escaping the bombs in Ukraine and now a fire has left us with nothing," Dymitro told El Caso.
One woman who escaped the burning building told ABC Spain that no alarms went off and the diffuser sprinklers didn't come on after the flames took hold.
"My husband told me that there was a lot of smoke and we went out into the hallway," she said.
"Then we have seen people running with their children... Not a single alarm has sounded nor have the diffusers worked."
Among the many missing are a young couple with their two children, a two-year-old and a two-month-old baby, El Mundo reports.
The young family tried to hide in the bathroom of their flat as the flames spread but reports suggest the home was engulfed.
Some sources claim they could be the first four bodies confirmed dead, but this won't be confirmed until firefighters can get inside the building.
The raging inferno is understood to have started after 5.30pm local time on Thursday at a building in the western Campanar neighbourhood of Valencia, Spain.
The blaze is believed to have started on the fourth floor and spread rapidly - trapping some of the 350 residents registered as living in the 14-storey complex.
Footage filmed from the ground showed helpless residents standing on their balconies waving for help as flames and black smoke billowed around them.
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And timestamped clips shared on Twitter show how the fire went from a fairly small blaze in one flat to a raging blaze throughout the tower in just 14 minutes.
The top of the building - made up of two towers linked by a "panoramic lift" - appeared to crumble as bright orange flames engulfed dozens of apartments.
In one clip, an emergency responder standing at the top of a tower crane looked to be reaching for someone who was trapped.
And other dramatic footage showed firefighters using a cherry picker machine to rescue a terrified couple stranded on their seventh-floor balcony.
Further footage showed a desperate firefighter jumping from the first floor of the burning block onto a mat deployed by emergency services.
A heroic janitor in the building went door to door pulling people out when the alarms failed to sound, one resident told ABC.
Fourteen people were treated for injuries - including a seven-year-old child and six firefighters - and 12 of them were taken to hospital, emergency services said.
It comes as...
- Blaze started on fourth floor of a 14-storey residential building in city's Campanar neighbourhood
- Rapid spread of fire has been blamed on highly flammable cladding
- At least 14 people are still missing - with firefighters saying none are expected to be alive
- Valencia's mayor says foreigners were inside the building - including the Ukrainian couple who escaped
- The four dead could be a young family who sheltered from the flames inside their bathroom
- Hero janitor went door-to-door to save neighbours after fire alarms failed to sound
- Three days of official mourning will be declared
While four deaths have been confirmed, the official toll is expected to rise sharply when fire crews are able to get inside the apartment block.
The four bodies were reportedly spotted on balconies with the help of drones.
María José Catalá, Valencia's mayor, previously said foreigners were inside the apartment block.
"We know there are foreigners and the information we have is likely to change during the day," she said.
"At the moment we know there are 14 people who are unaccounted for.
"There are people who are foreigners who were spending a few days in Valencia and that can make things more complicated.
“Until we can enter the building, we won’t know the true situation."
Esther Puchades, deputy head of Valencia’s Industrial Engineers Association, blamed the quick spread of the fire on the building's highly flammable polyurethane cladding.
Speaking from the scene after midnight local time, Mr Suárez said "the worst hypothesis is confirmed: four people dead".
President of the Valencian Government Carlos Mazón said it was with "great pain what we already feared is confirmed".
Catalá, Valencia's mayor, said the city council would decree three days of official mourning.
She added: "There are no words that describe the enormous pain that the city of Valencia is feeling right now."
Luis Ibanez, who lives nearby, said he had looked out of a window and saw flames engulfing the block "within a matter of minutes - saying it was "as if it was made of cork".
"I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The whole side of the building directly opposite was on fire, from the first floor to the sixth and seventh floor," he told TVE.
"There was a really strong wind and the fire was spreading to the left at a huge speed."
Someone else described the inferno as "hell" and "madness", and another sobbed as she told local press her cat was trapped inside.
Terrified residents also claimed "not a single alarm sounded" - and the sprinklers in the building didn't work.
But a heroic janitor went door to door to save neighbours, Diario ABC reports.
Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sánchez said he was "dismayed by the terrible fire".
He wrote on X: "I just spoke with the president @carlos_mazon_
and the mayor @mjosecatala to learn first-hand about the situation and offer all the help that is necessary.
There are no words that describe the enormous pain that the city of Valencia is feeling right now
María José Catalá
"I want to convey my solidarity to all the people affected and recognition to all the emergency personnel already deployed at the scene."
Local media reported that several metal sheets tumbled to the ground, onto the floor and onto cars, before fire and police personnel arrived at the scene.
Police began cordoning off the area from 6.45pm local time amid fears that the fire could spread to nearby buildings, according to Economía Digital.
The building was understood to be the last built in the Nou Campanar area of Valencia during the real estate boom.
The fears of polyurethane cladding fuelling the ferocious fire recalled the 2017 tragedy at Grenfell Tower in London.
The fire at a 24-storey high-rise in west London killed 72 people - with the blaze spreading rapidly due to the highly combustible cladding on the block's outside walls.
