The first floor of the Fonda Milagros nightclub in Murcia became a deadly fire trap this Sunday morning from which at least 13 people could not escape. It is the floor where the reserved areas are located where customers come, especially if they have a celebration. They are supposedly privileged spaces at height overlooking the central area of the room. However, getting in and out wasn’t easy. And less between flames.
A young woman who was a regular there yesterday described the reserved area as “a maze.” “There are stairs, but then you have to go down a hallway to get to the cabins,” he said. This was an indication that these enclosed rooms were designed in the style of a theater box, with access and exit via a rear hallway that ran the length of the entire floor in a horseshoe shape. “There was only one staircase,” said this girl at the doors of the Murcia Sports Palace, where relatives and friends of the missing were gathered to receive psychological help. At least 13 people died in the fire, although it is not ruled out that there are more fatalities, as a total of 18 people of different nationalities (at least Spanish, Ecuadorian and Nicaraguan) were in the nightclub whose disappearance was reported by relatives or acquaintances.
Entering the Fonda Milagros nightclub took you to almost any Latin American country. Decorations simulating palm leaves, vegetation, albeit plastic, and vallenatos, cumbias and rancheras as a soundtrack. It was a place frequented primarily by Murcia’s Latin community, but its customers also included Spaniards. A lot of synthetic material, paper on the walls, carpets, wood… Everything that made us travel to this Caribbean environment became fuel.
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“Mom, I love her, I’m going to die,” was the heartbreaking audio message one of the victims sent to her mother at 6:06 a.m. “She is my daughter and I never heard from her again. Not even from her boyfriend,” her father said hours later, just 200 meters from the nightclub door, behind a police cordon he couldn’t get past.
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Although police are still investigating the location where the fire started, the condition of the reserved area furthest from the exit stairs, completely burnt, and the location where 11 of the 13 bodies were found suggest that it was booth 18, where a birthday was being celebrated. However, not all of the deceased took part in this celebration, as two Ecuadorian couples who had traveled from neighboring Caravaca de la Cruz were among the missing.
According to the fire department, the two bodies that were found on the ground floor should also have been found on the upper floor, but fell over when the building collapsed because they were covered by rubble. According to various sources, there is also a local worker among them. They pointed out that although the fire must have been very violent, the deceased probably died from inhaling smoke and gases from whatever was burning. “They shouldn’t have suffered much,” they noted in moments when they sought comfort.
Image provided by the Murcia Fire Department showing the interior of one of the nightclubs affected by the fire.@BomberosMurcia
State of the interior of a nightclub after the fire in Murcia. In a picture of the fire department. @FirefightersMurcia
Firefighter in front of the Teatre de Murcia nightclub, this Sunday.HANDOUT (AFP)
Firefighters took part in extinguishing the fire in the nightclubs early on Sunday morning. Firefighters from Murcia
The mayor of Murcia, José Ballesta, at the scene of the accident. Marcial Guillén (EFE)
Police officers in the area of the event this Sunday. Alfonso Duran
This Sunday a firefighter is on duty in the accident area. Marcial Guillén (EFE)
Firefighters and police are on duty in the Las Atalayas commercial and leisure district on the outskirts of the city. Marcial Guillén (EFE)
Firefighters in front of the Teatre de Murcia nightclub, this Sunday.Murcia City Council
Firefighters transported the body of one of the people who died in the fire on Sunday: Alfonso Durán
Firefighters took part in extinguishing the fire in the nightclubs. Firefighters from Murcia
Police officers in the area of the event this Sunday. Alfonso Duran
Relatives and friends of the deceased, near the nightclubs destroyed by the fire. Marcial Guillén (EFE)
Firefighters in the area of the incident in the nightclubs in the commercial and leisure district of Las Atalayas de Murcia, this Sunday.112 Murcia (112)
More than a dozen people who were at the nightclub claim there were no emergency exits marked. However, the mayor of Murcia, José Ballesta, could not report this Saturday whether the establishment complied with safety regulations or whether it had the necessary licenses, since twelve hours after the incident the documentation had not yet been evaluated. Nevertheless, he was categorical when he stated that the city council would appear in the public process: “This will all be resolved down to its final consequences, no matter who falls,” he said.
Two police patrols were at 6am in the area known as Atalayas – where the nightclub is located, Murcia’s main nightlife district, three kilometers from the city. These agents were the first to go to the doors of the facilities, where the firefighters immediately went. Although it was initially thought that both the Fonda and the adjacent Teatre nightclub, which was also affected by the fire, had been evacuated, it was family and friends who warned that there were still people inside.
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Smoke before fire
Adriana Caballero, 20, was also celebrating her birthday at La Fonda when the room filled with smoke around 6 a.m. “I went to the toilet with a friend. When we heard a man inside calling for us to run, we got scared and left the bathroom. When we got back to the track the smoke was so thick we couldn’t breathe. “You couldn’t see anything, everything was dark and the room was practically empty.” Caballero and her friend stopped to pick up their bag and went out the main door, the only one they saw open, onto the street. “We were among the last to leave. They were already getting the last remaining people out. At the entrance we saw a girl lying on the ground and we thought she was unconscious. “A lot of people were crying and we were shocked because we didn’t know what was happening or when it had happened,” she said. Victoria Sanchez.
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