A two-storey building in Spain’s popular tourist island of Mallorca has collapsed, killing four people and injuring nearly two dozen more.
Emergency services wrote on social media platform X on Thursday that seven of the victims were in a “very serious” state and nine others had “serious” injuries and were being treated in different hospitals.
The building, which housed a restaurant, collapsed in the Playa de Palma area to the south of the Mediterranean island’s capital Palma de Mallorca.
A spokesperson for the local police told radio station RNE said the first emergency calls came in at about 8pm (18:00 GMT).
“The terrace has come down, probably due to excessive weight,” he said, adding that the cause of the disaster was still being investigated.
Public television for the Balearic Islands, IB3, where Mallorca is located, reported there were people dancing on a terrace that collapsed on top of the floor underneath.
One firefighter described a “nightmarish” scene to the newspaper Ultima Hora, saying that when he arrived, people were crying and screaming around the rubble on the ground floor.
Several people are believed to be trapped under rubble at the site of the Medusa Beach Club, a beachside restaurant in one of the busiest areas of the regional capital, Palma de Majorca.
Police said the victims are a Spanish man, two German women and a Senegalese man, reported to be Abdoulaye Diop, who made national headlines in 2017 for rescuing a man who was struggling in waters off the Majorca coast.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez conveyed his condolences to the victims’ families on X, saying he was “closely following the consequences”.
The central government was prepared to send “all the necessary resources” to help the regional authorities cope, he added.
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