Several people died and at least six others were missing on Tuesday after a fire broke out at a building undergoing renovation in central Brussels, trapping workers in lift shafts, according to local authorities.

The blaze began on the second floor of the Oxy tower on Place de Brouckère shortly before 8 a.m. local time and spread rapidly through the elevator shafts, the Brussels fire brigade said. Rescue teams gained limited access to one of the two lift cabins and discovered an unspecified number of bodies. A spokesman for the labour inspection service, Brecht Speybrouck, told Reuters that rescuers had seen “two or three people who died” in that cabin, but could not immediately confirm whether those accounted for all the missing. Six workers remained unaccounted for as emergency crews worked to reach the second shaft.

Two people with burns were transported to a military hospital, and a firefighter suffering from hyperthermia was treated at the scene, medical sources reported. More than 200 labourers were on site when the fire started and were evacuated to a nearby administrative centre, where the Red Cross provided psychological support.

Italian media, including La Repubblica, cited a death toll of at least ten, but Belgian officials have not confirmed a figure beyond the initial sighting of several bodies. The building, a former municipal office block constructed between 1968 and 1971, was being converted into a mixed-use complex with a hotel, apartments and restaurants. Renovation work was in its final stages, according to some local reports, though the site remained active.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, with a forensic expert appointed to examine the scene. Authorities said there was no immediate indication of irregularities in the workers’ registration. The provisional nature of the casualty count was underscored by the ongoing search of the second lift shaft, which remained inaccessible to firefighters by late afternoon.