Touching moment Spain's Queen Letizia hugs Valencia blaze survivor as royals meet residents who escaped deadly inferno that killed at least 10 in Grenfell Tower-like disaster

Queen Letizia of Spain touchingly hugged a survivor of a deadly apartment block fire that claimed the lives of 10 people in Valencia yesterday.

The Spanish Queen was seen consoling families who had lost everything in the inferno which tore through their homes on Thursday evening, with some escaping with only the clothes on their backs.

She joined her husband King Felipe VI as they travelled to the city in a show of support for the victims and their families, and to congratulate the emergency services who desperately tried to help.

Firefighters had been seen rescuing people from their balconies in the adjoined 14-storey and 10-storey buildings in the upmarket Campanar neighbourhood as the blaze, fanned by strong winds, tore through the structure, trapping residents inside their flats.

So far at least 10 people are known to have died, and experts have suggested flammable cladding which covered the building may have played a role in the rapid spread of the fire.

King Felipe speaks to a couple who were rescued from the inferno, while behind him Queen Letizia hugs a woman who lost her home

Her Majesty speaks to a woman whose home was among those affected by the inferno

King Felipe and Queen Letizia shake hands and console people who lost their apartments in the blaze

Queen Letizia is seen speaking to families who were forced out of their homes by the devastating fire

The couple speak to families forced out of their flats by the fire on Thursday night

King Felipe VI of Spain shakes hand with an emergency worker during a visit to the residential tower block

Queen Letizia shakes hands with emergency workers outside the building as Spain reels in shock at the inferno

The gutted remains of the building loom into the sky on Monday, three days after it was destroyed in a deadly fire

At least 10 people are known to have died in the blaze, which started on Thursday afternoon

King Felipe look up at what remains of the building as he visits the site of the deadly blaze

The King and Queen of Spain visited the scene of the fire in Valencia on Monday 

It raises parallels with the deadly Grenfell Tower inferno in London in 2017 which killed 72 people when a residential fire was accelerated by dangerously combustible cladding.

The deadly inferno was reported to have consumed the entire building in the space of half an hour, trapping people inside.

On couple was dramatically rescued by firefighters from their balcony as the flames drew ever closer.

Among the victims who are known to have died are a family of four, including a newborn baby, a three-year-old girl and their mother and father.

Photos show a black veil being hung up, a sign of mourning, outside the entrance of the school last week, and it was reported that the Spanish Red Cross has sent emergency counsellors to the school.

An elderly couple, who have not yet been identified, are understood to have died in the blaze while cowering in their bathroom with their dog.

Pilar Bernabé, national government delegate in Valencia, said 10 bodies were found in the first police inspection of the gutted residential buildings.

She said the bodies matched with the list of 10 people that authorities had deemed missing. A newborn baby and a three-year-old girl are among the dead.

There were large crowds of people present as the monarch arrived to survey the area

King Felipe shaking the hand of rescue worker after the deadly fire which killed 10 people on Thursday

King Felipe and Queen Letizia shook hands with members from different branches of the emergency services who had helped tackle the fire

The King and Queen were pictured holding hands as they were shown the scene of destruction

The monarch waved to the crowds who lined the streets to see him during the sombre visit

Delegation representative Pilar Bernabe told reporters that all the people reported missing had now been accounted for, with experts now starting on the 'complex' task of identifying the dead.

'We will keep looking,' she said, but 'the number of victims we've found corresponds with the number of people listed as missing.'

Identification of the victims 'will be complicated because they will need to be identified with DNA tests', she said, in a nod to the absolute voracity of the fire, indicating it was not possible to say how long that would take.

The fire broke out around 5:30 pm (1630 GMT) in one of the flats on the middle floors and within 30 minutes the blaze had consumed the entire building, no thanks to high winds of more than 50 kilometres (30 miles) per hour which also complicated firefighting efforts.

Such was the heat that the firemen could not enter the building and had to work only from the outside, managing to pluck a father and his daughter to safety from one of the upper balconies.

They were only able to enter the blackened ruin of the residential block on Friday, smoke still wafting from its shattered windows and the once-white facade charred with the residue of smoke and flames.

Fifteen people were treated for injuries of varying degrees, including a seven-year-old child and seven firefighters, but their lives were not in danger.

One of the buildings that makes up the two-part complex is reported to have contained 138 apartments and some 450 residents, with locals staying in hotels until they can be moved into newly built social housing.

The complex in Valencia was finished in 2009. In a promotional video, the now bankrupt construction company Fbex boasted that it used a new aluminium-based material as part of its façade.

Valencia mayor Maria Jose Catala said earlier the fire's cause is still unknown and that she could not yet comment on whether some materials used in the construction of the modern complex might have worsened it.

The cause of the fire, and how it was able to spread to quickly, are still being ascertained by investigators

Forecasters said winds of up to 40mph were recorded in Valencia that day, which may have swept the flames along the building

The fire raged across the two-part apartment complex, which is up to 14 storeys tall in places

A woman lays flowers at the scene of the fire on Valencia's Rafael Alberti Poeta Street, which took hold on Thursday evening

Fire investigators assess the charred shell of the apartment block on Friday after the blaze was extinguished

Spain's prime minister Pedro Sanchez (centre) visited the scene of the tragedy on Thursday

Neighbour Alejandra Alarcon said that it took 15 minutes for the fire to engulf the entire building as questions abounded as to how the fire spread so rapidly.

Experts suggested that a type of cladding might have made the blaze spread faster.

Vice-president of the Valencia College of Industrial and Technical Engineers Esther Puchades told state news agency Efe the cladding used included polyurethane and when 'heated it is like plastic and it ignites'.

She said it was the first fire of its type in Spain, but that other blazes involving the material have been similarly destructive in the UK and China.

The IPUR, Spain's polyurethane manufacturers' association, issued a statement contesting Ms Puchades' claim, saying there was no evidence that polyurethane was used in the Valencia building's facade.

The June 2017 fire at Grenfell Tower in London, which had similar cladding, caused 72 deaths.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited the scene, promising support for those affected and expressing gratitude to firefighters and military personnel who worked to extinguish the blaze. Pope Francis also sent a telegram of condolences.

Officials also staged a minute's silence on Saturday to commemorate the victims of the tragedy.