At least 13 people have died in the fire that broke out in three well-known nightclubs in Murcia early Sunday, although it is not ruled out that there are more fatalities, according to the local emergency number 112. Rescue workers are continuing to search for other possible victims of the incident. This happened around 6 a.m. in one of the venues and then spread to the adjacent dance halls in the Las Atalayas commercial and leisure district on the outskirts of the city, where there were many customers. At least four people were injured. According to police, most of the fatalities occurred at the La Fonda entertainment bar, whose ground floor collapsed and collapsed. He also stressed that the number could increase in the coming hours, since there are at least fifteen people whose family and friends report that they were in the nightclub where the fire broke out and that they are not found could. The deceased could also be among them, as they have not yet been identified. The city’s mayor, José Ballesta, has refused to discuss the safety conditions and licenses of the nightclubs until the rescue of the victims is completed and the exact causes of the incident are known. Regional President Fernando López Miras ordered three days of official mourning following the incident.
Firefighters managed to extinguish the fire around eight in the morning and are in the nightclubs to locate the victims. However, the task is dangerous as some of the premises are structurally damaged and full of hot debris, according to sources from this body. The interior of the most affected restaurant had to be shored up. The identification of the deceased is being carried out by the scientific police, who have warned that it will take some time. The mayor explained that eight bodies have already been recovered and work is currently underway to evacuate the missing, as the conditions for this are very difficult.
The origin of the fire, which affected the Teatre, Golden and La Fonda Milagros nightclubs, is currently unknown. The spokeswoman for the Teatre nightclub, María Dolores Abellán, has clarified to the media that the fire actually originated at the La Fonda nightclub, a venue with a dance floor and restaurant, and not at the Teatre as originally reported. The fire would have spread from La Fonda to the two attached party bars. Investigative sources have stated that a group of friends and family members were having a birthday party in some cabins on the first floor.
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The management of the Teatre nightclub, where several birthdays were also celebrated on Saturday, has assured journalists that its premises were evacuated due to the fire and that all those who died were customers of La Fonda. The state police confirmed this point when the number of victims was still nine. Witnesses indicate that the people who were on the ground floor of the nightclubs were evacuated without any major problems.
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Sub-inspector Diego Seral, spokesman for the National Police in Murcia, stated that the fire started in a building that “was broken at the time.” [dividió]“ and which was originally exclusively the Teatre nightclub. “It is true that the La Fonda site suffered the most damage from the fire, including significant structural damage that caused the structure to collapse into the interior of the establishment,” he noted.
The structural damage that the fire caused to the La Fonda nightclubs, where the fire would have started, and to the Teatre, attached to the previous ones, caused part of the structure to collapse and fall inside the building. The rubble and high temperatures make it difficult to search for the missing people and recover the bodies. At least two of them are still inside the damaged property, according to Murcia Mayor José Ballesta, who told the media. Eleven of the deceased were on the upper floor and two more were in the basement. However, investigators still don’t know if this was because they fell when the floor collapsed or were in the basement at the time of the tragedy.
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)
The identification of the deceased, he explained, is carried out by comparing biological samples with the DNA of their relatives, samples of which are taken at the Sports Palace of Murcia, located a few meters from the scene of the accident. At least three rooms have also been set up there to provide psychological support to these people while they are looking for their relatives.
Bracing and clearance work is likely to continue throughout the week and the police investigation, which the spokesman expected to be “complex”, is focused on identifying the causes that caused the fire, where no progress has been made. Hypothesis.
In addition to the fatalities, at least four other people, two women aged 22 and 25 and two men aged 41 and 45, were injured from smoke inhalation. Initial images from the accident area showed dozens of young people on the streets near the nightclubs as a huge column of black smoke rose from them. The majority were able to leave the area independently, as the city’s mayor confirmed.
Firefighters from the Murcia City Council and the Murcia Region Firefighting and Rescue Consortium have been working to extinguish the flames, which has caused traffic to be disrupted on the Alicante highway and at the entrances to the commercial area and Las Atalayas nightclubs. A total of 12 fire engines and 40 emergency services were deployed to extinguish the fire.
The state police have announced that it cannot be ruled out that there are further deaths. Special units from the Murcia Police Headquarters are investigating fires on site to determine the origin of the events. Members of the homicide squad have also joined the investigation.
The Supreme Court of Murcia (TSJMU) has called for a second judge to take care of the normal activities of the court on duty, while the judge of the Court of Instruction No. 7 remains in office together with the Judicial Commission at the site of the incident, together with the forensic teams of the Institute of Forensic Medicine of the Region of Murcia.
The incumbent Prime Minister and Secretary General of the PSOE, Pedro Sánchez, wanted to express his support to the relatives of the victims of the fire in a nightclub in Murcia through his profile on the social network X (formerly Twitter). “My love and solidarity with the victims and families of the tragic fire that occurred this morning in a nightclub in Murcia,” he stressed. He has also expressed his “support and cooperation” to the President of Murcia, Fernando López Miras, while expressing his gratitude to “the emergency services deployed there for their work.” The leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, also sent a message of condolences and pain.
The fire that spread to three nightclubs in Murcia this morning is the worst fire recorded in a leisure venue in Spain since the tragedy of January 14, 1990 at the Flying nightclub in Zaragoza, in which 43 people died. The biggest nightclub tragedy in Spain occurred in Madrid on December 17, 1983, when a fire broke out behind the stage curtains of the Alcalá 20 nightclub, claiming the lives of 81 people, most of them young people. Smoke, a failure of the lighting system and a closed emergency door led to the disaster.