Portuguese president visits scene of fatal building fire

LISBON, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa visited a village community center on Sunday after a fire ripped through the building and killed eight on Saturday night.

The fire broke out shortly before 9 p.m. local time at the two-story building of the Cultural, Recreational and Humanitarian Association center in Vila Nova da Rainha, a village in northern Portugal.

Rebelo de Sousa thank and praised the quick response of the local authorities and emergency services. "In such a short space of time, and in a very difficult situation, they were all exceptional," he told local reporters.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze within the hour while medics treated the wounded on the ground. Some of the injured were taken by helicopter to hospitals in Lisbon and Porto.

At least 38 people were injured and 29 remain in hospital, with 4 said to be in critical condition.

Four of the dead have been identified as village residents, aged 56 and above, according to the Portuguese Lusa News Agency.

The exact cause of the fire is still not known. Local media reports initially suggested a boiler had exploded, but this is now thought not to be the case.

Witnesses told reporters that the chimney on a wood-burning stove had been overheating. There is speculation that this caused the false ceiling to come ablaze, but the authorities have yet to provide an official explanation.

Vila Nova da Rainha is located in the center-north of the country, in the municipality of Tondela, in the district of Viseu, some 250 km north of Lisbaon. It is a region still reeling from devastating forest fires that broke out in October, killing 45 and destroying 50,000 hectares. Enditem