A powerful gas explosion in Madrid tore through a residential building in the central area of Madrid on Wednesday, killing at least three people and ripping the facade off the structure.
A tower of smoke rose from the building, where repairs were being done to a gas boiler, and billowed through Toledo Street, near the city’s centre.
A loud explosion from an unknown origin has partially destroyed a six-floor-tall building flanked by a school and a nursing home in the centre of Spain’s capital, Madrid.
Four floors of the building were destroyed in the explosion, which could be heard in many areas of Madrid.
NEW: Massive explosion reported in central Madrid, Spain https://t.co/8yqjQH4tEX
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Emergency workers were seen carrying two bodies away from the area, one that firefighters covered with a blue blanket and another shrouded in reflective emergency sheeting.
At least eight people were injured in the blast, one seriously, the Madrid emergency service said in a tweet. And a technician who was working on the boiler is missing, according to the Spanish government’s representative for the Madrid region, José Manuel Franco, who confirmed the three dead.
Nearby Building Evacuated
A nearby nursing home was evacuated and no injuries were initially reported among the residents, Madrid Mayor José Luis Martínez Almeida told reporters on the ground.
Madrid Mayor José Luis Martínez Almeida also said that some mild damage had been identified in a nearby school, where he said people suffered no more than “scratches.” A neighbourhood resident Leire Reparaz said she heard the explosion and wasn’t immediately sure where it was coming from.
Nine emergency services teams are working to clear the debris and search for the source of the explosion.
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