A fire ripped through a hostel in New Zealand's capital overnight, killing at least six people and forcing others to flee the four-story building in their pajamas in what a fire chief on Tuesday called his 'worst nightmare.'
/ CBS/AP
Authorities told local media that 11 people were still unaccounted for and that the building had no water sprinklers. Hipkins said the building was not currently safe for police to enter and it could take authorities some time to confirm the number of dead."It is an absolute tragedy. It is a horrific situation," the prime minister told reporters."In the fullness of time, of course, there will be a number of investigations about what has happened and why it happened. But for now, the focus clearly has to be on dealing with the situation.
Other residents told reporters that fire alarms would regularly sound in the building, possibly from people smoking or overly sensitive smoke monitors, so many had initially thought it was another false alarm.
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