Four young Rumanians have died in a fire in calle Bilbao in the Poblenou district of Barcelona. The identities of the victims is not yet known.
The farm where the fire occurred was illegally occupied for the past ten years by a Rumanian couple who regularly had relatives or fellow countrymen staying on the premises. Because the owner of the farm did not object to the situation, the authorities had not instigated eviction procedures.
The authorities had, on several occasions, offered the couple repatriation to Rumania or help from Social Services but this had been rejected.
The four who died, three men and a woman, were staying in a makeshift shelter made of mattresses, wood and other objects. The cause of death was smoke inhalation.
There are around thirty illegally occupied farms in the area.