Four people were killed in the Spanish capital Madrid when a multi-storey building under construction partially collapsed on Tuesday. The bodies of two more victims were recovered from the rubble on Wednesday.
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The bodies of two missing people were recovered from the rubble of a building early Wednesday morning, Madrid's emergency services said in a social media post. Just before midnight, rescuers discovered two more bodies.
According to Spanish news agency EFE, workers from Mali, Guinea and Ecuador were among those killed. At least 3 people were injured, including 1 person who had a broken leg and had to be hospitalized.
According to EFE and local media, about 30-40 people work in the building that is being renovated into a 4-star hotel.
“Several floors of the building that is being rebuilt have collapsed,” Beatriz Martin, a spokeswoman for Madrid's emergency services, told reporters.
She added that it was too early to talk about the cause of the incident. The Spanish capital's emergency services said in a social media post that because it was a workplace accident, the incident was being “investigated by the Madrid judicial police.”
Hours before the bodies were found, Madrid Mayor José Luis Martinez-Almeida said searching for missing people under the rubble was a “complex and difficult task,” adding that police dogs had been called in to help.
Witnesses and passersby reported hearing a loud bang and seeing thick smoke as the building collapsed around 1 p.m. local time.
An employee at a nearby bakery told Spanish TV channel RTVE that “it was like a bomb exploded”.
A bartender working near the scene also added that when the building collapsed, “people suddenly lost the ability to do anything.”
In Spain, old buildings are often completely restored from the inside, while the facade is preserved in its original state. The same goes for this building. At the time of the incident, as it later turned out, the top floor of a six-story building had collapsed, damaging all subsequent floors.
The facade remains standing and appears to have prevented most of the debris from reaching the street. It also helps that the facade is covered with a giant green tarpaulin, which is often used when restoring old buildings.
