Six workers killed in Brussels Oxy Tower construction site fire

At least six construction workers were found dead in an elevator shaft at the Oxy Tower renovation site near Place de Brouckère in central Brussels on July 14, after a fire that firefighters initially contained reignited inside the lift shaft, trapping people; six more remained missing as rescue teams searched a second stuck elevator

Summary

A fire broke out at the Oxy Tower renovation site near Place de Brouckère in central Brussels on July 14. Firefighters initially brought the blaze under control, but the fire then spread into an elevator shaft and reignited, trapping construction workers inside the lift. Belgian authorities found at least six bodies in the elevator and confirmed two more people were injured. Six workers remained missing as rescue teams searched a second stuck elevator at the site. The Oxy Tower is a large building in downtown Brussels undergoing renovation, and the incident occurred during working hours with multiple workers on site.

The split

Euronews led with the two-stage fire mechanics, the key safety detail about re-ignition inside the lift shaft. LiveNewsChat was first to name the building as the Oxy Tower and to report that six were still missing in a second elevator, providing the operational search-and-rescue picture. The Brussels Times confirmed the Place de Brouckère location. The Manila Times, publishing hours after the initial reports, carried the confirmed death toll of six. Al Arabiya noted the incident from the Arab/Gulf media perspective.

By the numbers

6, confirmed dead, bodies found in the elevator shaft
2, people injured
6, workers reported missing as rescue crews searched a second stuck elevator
2, fires: the initial blaze and the reignition inside the lift shaft

Why it matters

Belgium does not routinely see multi-fatality construction accidents at this scale in central Brussels. The fire's progression, controlled, then reigniting inside an enclosed elevator shaft, raises specific questions about the fire-suppression systems and emergency evacuation design of the renovation project. Belgian workplace safety authorities face pressure to audit fire safety on urban construction sites, particularly large-scale renovation works where elevator shafts create fire-spread pathways.

What to watch

The confirmed death toll, which may rise if workers in the second stuck elevator are not found alive.
Belgian prosecutor or Federal Public Service Employment findings on the fire's cause and whether safety or building-code violations contributed.
Any Belgian federal response on fire-safety standards at major urban construction and renovation sites.

지역별 시각 · 2

▸ Pan-European multilingual broadcaster; reported the distinctive fire dynamics first in English, noting that firefighters initially brought the blaze under control before flames spread into the lift shaft and triggered a second fire that trapped people inside

Euronews · Europe · en · 2026년 7월 14일 14:00Z

Euronews described the two-stage fire sequence: an initial blaze firefighters controlled, followed by flames spreading into the elevator shaft and sparking a second fire that trapped workers. The piece reported several dead and named no specific figure early on, consistent with an ongoing rescue operation.

“Firefighters initially brought the blaze under control, but flames spread into a lift shaft, sparking a second fire and trapping people inside.”

출처 ↗

▸ English-language aggregator that named the site as the Oxy Tower renovation project, confirmed 'several dead' among workers trapped in the elevator shaft, and reported six more missing as crews searched a second stuck lift

LiveNewsChat · Global · en · 2026년 7월 14일 15:09Z

LiveNewsChat identified the building as the Oxy Tower and specified that six workers remained missing as rescue crews worked to access a second stuck elevator, adding operational detail absent from other early reports. The account confirmed the workers were trapped in the shaft rather than the building floor-space.

“A fire at the Oxy Tower renovation project in central Brussels killed several construction workers trapped in an elevator shaft. Six remain missing as rescue crews search a second stuck lift.”