OAKLAND: At least nine people were dead and about 25 others were unaccounted for after a massive fire broke out during a late-night party in a warehouse in Oakland, California, the city’s fire chief said on Saturday.
Fire officials were still trying to determine how the fire started, said Chief Teresa Deloach-Reed, who described the building as “huge.” She said the roof had collapsed, complicating efforts to recover bodies. The warehouse in the Fruitvale district housed units where people lived and worked.
“There is a large majority of that building that has not been searched,” Deloach-Reed said during a press briefing.
“We are hoping that the number nine is what there is and that there are no more,” the fire chief said, referring to the number of known fatalities. “But we have not done a complete search of the building.”
A Facebook event page showed 176 people planned to attend the party, which featured a performance by the electronic music act Golden Donna. The page, which listed 355 others as interested in going, carried posts from people who were either missing or accounted for. --REUTERS