Several people have been killed and others wounded in a fire that has erupted in an apartment block in the Belgian city of Antwerp, according to authorities.

Police said the local fire department received a call at 9:53am (07:53 GMT) on Wednesday regarding a “raging fire” on the eighth floor of the 10-storey apartment block in the Linkeroever area of eastern Antwerp.

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Several fire brigades as well as ambulances and emergency teams rushed to the building, which houses more than 200 people.

Firefighters were battling the blaze in difficult conditions due to its size and intensity, police said.

“This is a very complex fire with poor visibility and heavy smoke inside the building. That makes it more difficult to extinguish,” Marie De Clercq, a spokesperson for the Antwerp Fire Zone, was quoted as saying by The Brussels Times.

Footage from the scene showed one man on an upper floor enveloped in smoke and hanging over a balcony in an effort to get fresh air before making his way to a nearby window.

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, a former mayor of Antwerp, said in a social media post his “thoughts are with the victims and the evacuated residents of the terrible fire on Linkeroever”.

“My deep appreciation goes out to the emergency services who are striving to help the many affected people as quickly and safely as possible, and who are working hard to bring the fire under control,” he said.

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Linkeroever is a large residential area dotted with high-rise apartment buildings and bordering a major park where outdoor summer concerts are held.