Six workers died trapped in a lift during the Oxy tower fire in central Brussels, La Libre reports
Six construction workers died after being trapped in a lift during a fire at the Oxy tower — the former Centre Monnaie on Place De Brouckère in central Brussels — according to a judicial-desk report published by La Libre Belgique on 14 July 2026.
In 30 seconds
- La Libre Belgique reported on 14 July 2026 that six construction workers died in a fire at the Oxy tower in central Brussels, trapped in a lift.
- The Oxy tower is the former Centre Monnaie on Place De Brouckère, undergoing a major mixed-use conversion.
- La Libre filed the report under its judicial coverage, indicating prosecutorial involvement; the exact fire date, cause and victims' identities are not yet confirmed by Belgium Pulse.
- Workplace deaths in Belgium are investigated by the prosecutor's office and the labour auditorate, which examines compliance with safety obligations.
The Oxy tower is the redevelopment of the former Centre Monnaie, a large 1970s office complex on Place De Brouckère in central Brussels that formerly housed Bpost headquarters and City of Brussels administrative services. It has been undergoing a major conversion into a mixed-use complex. According to La Libre Belgique (14 July 2026), six construction workers died during a fire at the site after being trapped in a lift. Belgian workplace deaths of this kind are investigated by the public prosecutor's office and the labour auditorate (auditorat du travail), the specialised prosecution service for employment and workplace-safety law.
Background
The Centre Monnaie was built in the early 1970s as part of the modernist remaking of the De Brouckère area, and for decades housed postal headquarters and city services before being emptied for redevelopment as 'Oxy' in the early 2020s. Belgium's construction sector has long recorded some of the country's highest rates of serious workplace accidents, and fatal incidents are handled by the labour auditorate under the well-being-at-work legislation of 1996.
What to do
People working on or living near large Brussels construction sites should expect heightened inspections; anyone with information about the incident may be contacted by investigators. Families of construction workers can seek information via the unions' and the labour auditorate's victim-support channels.
Impact
Regional — Brussels is in the middle of a wave of large office-to-mixed-use conversions (Oxy, the North Quarter towers, the Midi district). A judicial finding of safety failures at Oxy would put pressure on developers, contractors and the regional inspection services overseeing similar sites across the capital.
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- Published:
- 14 Jul 2026, 02:00
- Retrieved by ODIN:
- 17 Jul 2026
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This story was assembled from verified evidence, with its sources and reasoning recorded as it was written.