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Firefighters said everyone managed to escape the 18 storey
building in the south of Milan, which was gutted by the blaze
that broke out on Sunday afternoon. Among the residents in the
high rise building was rapper Mahmood, winner of the 2019 San
Remo music festival with his international hit 'Soldi'.
Witnesses have said the fire, which started on the 15th floor,
quickly surged through the outside cladding of the building.
Video of the blaze showed panels melting off the building in
liquefied clumps.
"The tower was built just over 10 years ago and it is
unacceptable that such a modern building should have proved
totally vulnerable," mayor Beppe Sala wrote on Facebook.
"What was clear from the start was that the building's outer
shell went up in flames far too quickly, in a manner reminiscent
of the Grenfell Tower fire in London a few years ago."
The deaths in Britain's Grenfell Tower fire were blamed on
exterior cladding panels made of flammable material. Owners of
flats in similar buildings across Britain have since been forced
to remove such panels at a cost estimated to run into billions
of dollars, forcing many residents into economic hardship.
(Reporting by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Peter Graff)
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