Up to 10 people are dead and 11 are unaccounted for after fire ripped through Loafers Lodge on Adelaide Rd, Newtown.
Urban search and rescue crews have started combing through the smouldering wreckage where fire experts say there will be no survivors found.
Wade Sloane told NZME his mate Josh lived on the top floor - and he has not been able to reach him today.
“My mate Josh was actually staying at the place I’m living now, but he moved up here - he was on the top left,” he said.
“So hopefully he’s, he is okay... I’m gonna go check up at the park and see if he’s alive and breathing.”
Sloane said his mate did not have a lot of support and he did not have a cellphone - making him hard to contact at the best of times.
“When I got up this morning and heard about this, I just raced straight up here to make sure he’s okay,” he said.
“He was at the top left. They didn’t have many exits... I don’t know how you’d get out from that sort of circumstance.
Sloane said he stayed in a similar lodge to Loafers so the fire hit even closer to home.
“It looks pretty bad,” he said.
“So I understand the circumstances... you know, that it’s pretty bad.
“I’m a bit upset... there’s not much you can do. But I hope everyone that did get out was safe and I feel for the people that passed away.”
Just before 9am authorities confirmed six people had died and 30 were unaccounted for, though this has since been lowered to 11.
“This is our worst nightmare. It doesn’t get worse than this,” said Wellington Fire and Emergency district manager Nick Pyatt.
“We were confronted with a challenging incident, you don’t get more challenging than this.
“(Firefighters) had to put their own lives at risk to get as many people out of there as possible.”
Pyatt said crews were “heroic” and given the number of people in the building the incident was particularly challenging.
“Our thoughts at this time are with the families of those who have perished and with our crews who valiantly rescued those and attempted to rescue those that they couldn’t,” he said.
The hostel on Adelaide Rd can house 92 people and but it was unclear how many were inside when the fire broke out.
FENZ Deputy National Commander Brendon Nally confirmed to NewstalkZB that there were no sprinklers in Loafers Lodge.
The cause of the fatal blaze would be investigated as well as claims that smoke alarms were not activated and whether or not the fire was deliberately lit.
