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Stockholm Embassy Fire
04 Apr 2018

14 injured in suspected arson embassy fire in Stockholm

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14 people were injured in the fire in an embassy building on Östermalm in Stockholm, according to Swedish and international media. Police have arrested a man suspected of deliberately setting the building on fire.

The fire started at 12 o'clock on Wednesday in a building on Narvavägen in Östermalm, Stockholm, which houses the embassies for Portugal, Tunisia and Argentina.

It is spread at an early stage to the third, fourth and fifth floors.

Fourteen people have been injured and at least two of them have been taken to hospital.

The police began searching for a specific person early and at 14 o'clock a suspect wasarrested, a man in his 50's.

The arrest took place in central Stockholm.

"We are quite pleased and satisfied with it and believe we have taken the offender. We will be returning with details, "said police chief speaker Kjell Lindgren to TT.

"We will try to figure out if he was alone or not "

According to information to Swedish Aftonbladet, the fire should have been preceded by a dissatisfaction with a visit to one of the embassies.

"I have also received information about a controversy at the Portuguese embassy," says Kjell Lindgren.

"We will hold a wide variety of hearings with witnesses to be able to say with certainty what happened.

When the rescue service arrived at a fully developed fire at 12, they set a forecast for the extinguishing work in six hours. Just before 15 o'clock,  extinguishing work continued in the building.

20 units, 60-70 firefighters, have been sent to the site to fight the fire.

An adult and a child have been taken to hospital, according to Roger Steffen at Greater Stockholm's fire department.

At 15:00 local time, Steffen had no information about anyone else eft in the building.

The area around the embassy building is blocked from Narvavägen between Karlaplan and Linnégatan. A large number of police patrols are in place.

In addition to the embassies there are also several businesses, including a wine bar and a restaurant located in the property.