Madrid, Oct 8 Four people were killed and three others injured after a building which was being renovated collapsed in central Madrid on Tuesday, the local authorities confirmed on Wednesday.
Emergency workers found four bodies from the rubble of the six-storey building in Opera neighbourhood in Madrid in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Euro News reported. Madrid's Mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida said that the top floor of the building collapsed on Tuesday at around 1 pm (local time), which led to lower floors of the building to collapse.
The victims have been identified as three construction workers from Ecuador, Mali and Guinea-Conakry and an architect involved in the renovation work. Construction company ANKY had employed all of them, as per the reports. Three other workers were injured after the building collapsed, with one suffering a fractured leg. None of them suffered life-threatening injuries.
Sources from the city council and fire department revealed that a concrete slab weighing about eight tonnes fell from the sixth floor during renovation work, Euro News reported, citing broadcaster RTVE. The facade of the building remained standing and apparently prevented most of the debris from reaching the road. Firefighters and police used sniffer dogs and drones to help in carrying out search efforts in the building.
The local government stated that authorities are still conducting probe into the cause of the building collapse, with Madrid's municipal police leading the investigation as it is a workplace accident.
The building had "unfavourable" technical inspections in 2012 and 2022 due to "the general condition of the facade, exterior, partition walls, roof, roof terraces and plumbing and sewage system", according to Madrid's online registry of buildings under construction. The former office building was constructed in 1965 and was being converted into a hotel. Jose Luis Martínez-Almeida said that renovation work of the building had proper documents and permits.
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