A fire broke out at Loafers Lodge on Monday.

After the flames broke out in a hostel in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, the number of victims is still unclear. After securing the premises, Police Chief Deon Bennett said emergency services would begin this afternoon (local time) to search for missing persons and recover deaths already identified.

Yesterday, the authorities spoke of at least six dead and 11 missing. The devastating fire broke out at the three-storey Loafers Lodge in the Newtown area late Monday evening for reasons that remain unclear.

“The police are now the lead agency in connection with the investigation of the fire and we can confirm that we consider the fire suspicious,” Bennett said. What the authorities suspect, leave it open. Investigating the premises would be an “intense and methodical process”: “we suppose it will take some time – perhaps several days”.

More than 50 people were rescued from the burning building. Some escaped to the roof. The chief of the local fire department described the fire as his “worst nightmare”. Rescue work for people trapped on the upper floors was also hampered by the fact that the firefighters had only a large air ladder cart at their disposal. Radio New Zealand reported that a second fire engine with a revolving ladder was faulty.