Four dead as six-storey building collapses in central Madrid
Baku, October 8, AZERTAC
Spanish emergency services have recovered the bodies of four people from beneath the rubble of a six-storey building that collapsed in central Madrid while being refurbished into a hotel, Reuters reported citing local authorities.
"It is with deep sadness that we confirm that Madrid firefighters have recovered the bodies of the people who went missing after the collapse," Mayor Jose Luis Almeida wrote on X.
The victims have been identified as three men aged between 30 and 50 from Ecuador, Mali and Guinea-Conakry and employed at the site as construction workers, as well as a 30-year-old woman, the renovation project's architect.
Their remains were found early on Wednesday, nearly 15 hours after the collapse of the building's interior structure that left its facade intact, in a search-and-rescue operation in which police and firefighters deployed drones and sniffer dogs. Three other construction workers were injured.
The former office building, located in an area of downtown Madrid popular with tourists near the opera house and royal palace, was being converted into a four-star hotel by developer Rehbilita, according to information on its website.
The property belongs to Saudi-based fund RSR, a real estate investor specialising in high-end hotels and tourist apartments in Spain and Portugal. RSR bought it for 24.5 million euros ($28.5 million) in 2022.
Other news in this section
