At least two people were killed and several others injured in Madrid on Wednesday when a building belonging to a church partially collapsed in a massive explosion allegedly caused by a gas leak.
“It looks like there was a gas explosion in the building,” Mayor José Luis Martinez-Almeida told reporters at the scene, where hundreds of rescuers filled the cluttered streets.
He told Telemadrid that two people were killed in the blast, which according to officials later injured at least eight people, one seriously.
“At least four floors were affected by the explosion in the building in Calle Toledo,” emergency services tweeted.
‘The priests who live on the fifth and sixth floors are fine. “We are trying to find a volunteer who works with us,” Madrid Prime Minister Avelino Revilla told Telemadrid, according to Reuters.
A fire that broke out inside the building in Toledo Street made it harder for rescuers and firefighters to search for other possible survivors, the mayor said.
The building provided residential training for priests and provided meals for the homeless, a neighbor told Reuters.
A nearby nursing home was evacuated, although no immediate injuries were reported among residents.
No serious damage was reported in a nearby school, which would initially be empty because classes have not been resumed after a record snowfall in the Spanish capital on January 9.
The mayor later said there were a few people, but that they only sustained ‘scratches’.
Leire Reparaz, who lives near Puerto de Toledo, a local landmark, said she heard a loud explosion.
“We did not know where the sound was coming from. We all thought it came from school. “We went up the stairs to the top of our building and we could see the structure of the building and a lot of gray smoke,” said the 24-year-old.
On the videos and images posted on social media, a plume of smoke came out of the building.
“The noise was very loud, very loud, really,” Lorenzo Fomento, a 43-year-old Italian salesman who was in a nearby apartment, told Agence France-Presse by telephone.
“I’ve never heard anything so loud,” he added.
With Post threads