Shock in Manlleu over the death of five minors: "We want them to be remembered as good people"

ManlleuA group of girls gather near number 66A on Montseny Street in Manlleu because they are confused. They knew some of the five minors—one 14-year-old, three 16-year-olds, and one 17-year-old—who died on Monday night in a fire in the blog's atticThey went together to the Antoni Pous i Argila Institute in the Osona municipality, and while hugging her friends, one of the girls says they came to "try to process what happened." While the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) investigate the events—officers coming and going—another group of teenagers gathers, looking at the images circulating of the burned-out storage room. They also shared a classroom at the institute with the victims, and they too are baffled as to how an afternoon of leisure ended so tragically. "The storage room was a place to hang out, like all young people do," says one of them, the tallest, while his classmates' eyes fill with tears. Throughout Tuesday morning, the area outside the building where this tragic event took place has become a place of pilgrimage for friends and acquaintances of the victims. Residents of the Erm neighborhood in Manlleu also came, many to offer their condolences to the young people and their families. Whether due to the low temperatures, typical of a February morning, or the curious onlookers who had gathered, the atmosphere was cold. This was an expression, in fact, used by the municipal architect, Enric Gil, after inspecting the building to rule out any structural damage. "It's cold in the building today, and it's cold in Manlleu," he said, underscoring the tragedy.

The speed of the flames

In the building's entrance hall, another group of young residents recounted that the fire started before 9 p.m. and everything happened very quickly. A resident on the sixth floor, directly below the storage units, realized something was wrong when he heard "a very loud frying noise," his son explained. He immediately banged on doors to get people out of their apartments, but the young people in the storage unit couldn't get out.

While awaiting the results of the police investigation to determine the cause of the fire, witnesses explained that thick smoke quickly spread "through the stairwell and the apartments of the building," making visibility almost impossible. The storage units are in the attic and are spaces of about 8 square meters where residents store items (bicycles, mattresses, gas cylinders), although not all of them are occupied.

Possibly in one of these empty, lightless, and unventilated spaces, the young people met their deaths when "something" caught fire, according to the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police), who have not confirmed the neighbors' account that four other young people, two girls and two boys, were with them. The autopsy will determine the cause of death and may answer the question of how the teenagers were unable to escape.

What is known is that the young people did not live in the building, but they did go to the attic regularly without anyone stopping them, taking advantage of the fact that the doors are always open. However, everyone in the neighborhood knew them by sight, knew about their families, and their stories. One man explained that four of the five victims are children from families with "absent parents," who "are on the streets because they are better off than at home." He is saddened by the suffering of the families, who have received psychological support from the very beginning, according to the mayor of Manlleu, Arnau Rovira.

"You don't believe it"

Around five hundred residents of Manlleu gathered tonight in Fra Bernadí Square, where the town hall is located, to mourn the deaths of the five teenagers in a fire. The President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, and the Speaker of the Parliament, Josep Rull, attended the gathering, along with representatives from the schools the victims attended. Among those present were many young people who had known the victims "all their lives," having shared school and played in the street with them. "The last time I saw Musta was at the Torelló Carnival; I never imagined it would be the last," explained one boy, visibly moved by the deaths and the families. Nearby, other young people met and shook hands, some embracing each other. "It's like a movie, you can't believe it," said another. A friend asked that the deceased be remembered as "good people."

Students from the Antoni Pous and Ter high schools, where the five young people attended, also gathered in the square to express their condolences to the victims and their families. Sitting on one side of the square with other classmates, a girl who lived near the building explained that she remembered "a lot of smoke" at the time of the incident, and added that she was unaware that the victims frequently went up to the attic.

A group of mothers, residents of the town, waited for the scheduled time as the square gradually filled up. Although they didn't know the victims, they were there because "there is a lot of shock." Ramadan, a very important date in the Muslim calendar, is 24 hours away, which intensifies the grief.

No reports filed

Mayor Rovira explained that the City Council has received no complaints regarding the misuse of storage rooms in buildings, unlike in other properties in the neighborhood. A resident explained how, for months, the parking space of an apartment she rents has been sealed off by police order after it was discovered that people were living in substandard conditions inside. Rovira confirmed this situation of "substandard housing" in many buildings throughout the municipality and noted that he had a meeting scheduled for Friday with the Regional Minister of Territory, Silvia Paneque, to discuss future housing rehabilitation projects.