Five hundred pigs burnt alive at a farm in Belgium. The fire started Monday evening on a pig farm in Sint-Laureins in East Flanders province. The animals were locked in stables and couldn’t escape the fire.
The fire was devastating and completely destroyed the rear of one of the stables, local media reported. The dark plume of smoke could be seen from miles away.
Local residents immediately notified the fire brigade, who arrived quickly. But help for the animals trapped inside the burning barns came too late; around 500 pigs did not survive the fire.
“It was a very serious fire. Some of the stables were completely destroyed. The fire was brought under control about an hour after it started. Unfortunately, we were unable to save the animals from the burning barn,” fire captain Patrick Goossens told Belgian newspaper HLM.
An investigation determined that the fire started by accident, local police said.
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