Buenos Aires
Buenos AiresIstock

A major fire in a Buenos Aires apartment building on Wednesday night killed five members of an observant family, and injured 29, according to B’Chadrei Chareidim.

The massive fire broke out between the sixth and seventh floors of an apartment building in the city. The flames spread throughout a portion of the building, leading residents to become trapped on their apartments, Yeshiva World News reported.

Fire crews arrived at the scene and had to help residents off their balconies.

Tragically, five members of a Jewish family, including three children, lost their lives in the blaze.

Twenty-nine other residents of the building, including a pregnant woman and four children, were injured and taken to hospital in critical condition.

A further 20 residents were hospitalized for smoke inhalation.

There was over 25 ambulances at the scene of the inferno.

According to The Sun, a resident told reporters she heard a loud "explosion" shortly before the fire dawn started.

"Cries for help were heard, we saw children, there was a lot of smoke," she said. "I saw two children as if leaning out on the balcony."

Another nearby resident who lives down the block from the building said they heard a blast at some time between 4.30 and 5am.

"A few minutes later you started to feel the smell of smoke and you could hear a person desperately asking for help," he said. "After 10 minutes, we opened the window and we already saw that the balcony was full of fire."

The deputy commander of the Buenos Aires Fire Department, Pablo Giardina, said that the fire began on the seventh floor. It then "spread vertically to the [apartment] on the eighth floor," he told Cronista.

"We continue to go floor by floor for the people who stayed in other [apartments] because we want to know if they inhaled smoke," he said.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.