At least four dead

Beach club on Mallorca collapses – several dead!

16 people were injured in the building collapse, some of them seriously.

(Bild: AP)

The popular Spanish vacation island of Mallorca is in shock: at least four people have died in a house collapse. In addition, 16 people were injured, some of them seriously, according to the police on the Spanish vacation island. The cause of the accident and the identity of the victims were initially unknown. It was assumed that the victims included tourists as well as restaurant staff and local visitors.

The drama on the Spanish island occurred on Thursday evening at around 8 p.m. on the Playa de Palma at Balneario 1. Heavy parts of the building fell directly onto the terrace of the restaurant. The popular Medusa Beach Club was located in the two-storey building. At the time of the collapse, the restaurant, which was also partly a cocktail bar with live music, was full.

"It sounded like a bomb"
Javier, a resident of Playa de Palma, was in the immediate vicinity when the building on Cartago Street quickly collapsed like a house of cards, but with a loud roar. "It sounded like a bomb," he told a reporter from the regional newspaper "Última Hora". Other people said that the building had only been renovated "a few years ago". The part on the second floor that collapsed had been used as a chill-out area.

No more victims among the rubble
However, a police spokesman had good news shortly before midnight: "With 90 percent certainty" there were no more victims among the rubble, he told the German Press Agency.

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The police and rescue services are on the scene with a large contingent. The authorities also set up a large-scale exclusion zone. An eyewitness told the "Mallorca Zeitung" that the top floor of the establishment had collapsed. The building gradually collapsed down to the basement.

People are receiving emergency care on site
Videos on social media showed the large-scale operation at night. Some people were given emergency care on the sidewalks - and large crowds of people also formed.

There was a risk that the structure of adjacent buildings could also be affected and that they would have to be evacuated. Due to the darkness, the rescue teams set up floodlights to search for buried victims.

Cause unknown
The identity of the victims and whether tourists were among them was not initially known. The cause remained unclear for the time being. 

The regional newspapers "Diario de Mallorca" and "Última Hora" reported that up to 1,000 people had gathered in front of the accident site immediately after the collapse. Relatives of employees feared for their loved ones. The mayor of Palma, Jaime Martínez, and the first deputy mayor, Javier Bonet, also quickly drove to the beach to get an idea of the tragedy and the rescue work on the spot. 

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After the start of the party season, Playa de Palma has been full of tourists again since the end of April, the majority of whom - unlike the visitors to the English party stronghold of Magaluf to the west of Palma - come from Germany.