Escape room owner and worker jailed after horror fire leaves customer severely burned

The 42-year-old victim suffered severe burns to her body during a horror-themed activity at the Villa Amparo escape room in Cájar, Granada, in June 2022. She spent a month in a medically induced coma and over six months in intensive care.

Court 5 of the Criminal Division at Granada’s Court of Instance sentenced both the business owner and the staff member to two years’ imprisonment for causing injuries by gross negligence.

They were also banned from exercising their trade or profession for two years and ordered to pay two-thirds of the legal costs.

A third defendant was acquitted after the court found no evidence he was directly responsible for the injuries, though he was ordered to pay a third of the court costs.

The court heard the premises operated with an "absolute absence" of basic safety measures, including emergency lighting, adequate fire extinguishers, or evacuation protocols.

The venue also lacked a valid opening licence or planning permission. Customers were neither warned about the physical risks nor asked to sign consent waivers.

During the game, actors separated the group. One employee led the victim into a living room, tied her to a chair and poured liquid from a white jerrycan over her.

Despite repeated warnings from the victim about the overpowering smell of fuel, the worker ignored her pleas and struck a lighter near her three times, sparking a fireball that engulfed her.

She was left with "severe physical, psychological, and aesthetic" injuries that amount to permanent severe deformity.

Trapped inside a trunk

Judges ruled that the business owner committed an extremely severe breach of his duty of care by permitting the use of petrol and naked flames indoors without safety training, supervision, or warning users.

The employee was found to have acted with total recklessness by repeatedly sparking the lighter without verifying the liquid was safe.

The trial heard that several staff members were working illegally without contracts. The owner admitted he had cancelled his occupational risk management contract in 2018, just a year after opening.

A friend of the victim testified that he was handcuffed inside a trunk in the same room. He heard his friend tied to the chair and her desperate warnings about the smell of petrol before seeing the flash of flames.

He remained trapped in the dark as workers rushed to put out the fire. He told the court: "I was running out of air and there was thick smoke. I screamed and kicked until my friends helped me break out."

Following the conclusion of the criminal trial, the victim is now pursuing civil court proceedings through law firm HispaColex, seeking nearly €2 million in compensation.