Search dogs help locate bodies of four people reported missing after collapse of building under construction in Madrid
Three foreign workers were amongst the deceased after a floor slab in the building, which was being renovated to become a four-star hotel, collapsed on Tuesday
The bodies of the four people who were reported missing after the collapse of a five-storey building in the centre of Madrid were found after hours of anguished searching. It was shortly before 1pm on Tuesday when a "great cloud of dust" on Calle Hileras, near Tetro Real and Puerta del Sol, alerted passers to the incident that happened at a construction site. Three people were injured and four others died.
Constructed in 1965, the building, which was being renovated to become a four-star hotel, had been empty since 2014. The renovation work started back in February. The collapse was vertical and almost everything came crashing down from the sixth floor toward the building's inner yard, leaving a mass of debris among which firefighters, supported by drones and specialised National Police dog units, worked tirelessly to find the missing people. The possibilities of finding them alive diminished with every hour.
Some of the workers had time to run away from the collapse, but four people - three workers and one administrative assistant (initially believed to be the architect) - were reported missing. They were buried in the rubble. The first body was found after 10pm. The other three bodies were recovered one after the other by 3am. The collapse had caught two of the workers in the basement bathroom and the third on the sixth floor - the highest and the first to collapse. The woman had been on the first floor.
The victims' identities have not been officially confirmed. What is known is that the three construction workers were of foreign origin and had been hired by Anka. According to their colleagues, they were between 30 and 50 years old.
Firefighters in 18 teams worked in the area to shore up the building and avoid other possible collapses. The adjoining buildings were also checked. Madrid mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida urgently returned from London after hearing the news.
One person was taken to hospital with a broken leg and two others were treated for minor contusions
The site foreman said that there could have been around 30 to 40 people working at the time of the collapse. "It is a very hard and complex task," the mayor said, referring to the responsibilities of the firefighters, who had to manually remove the rubble. Three workers were treated by the emergency health services: two for minor contusions, while a third man was taken to hospital with a broken leg.
Preventive eviction
While the emergency services were still focused on the rescue work, the judicial police launched the investigation into the collapse, which is being treated as a work-related accident. Nevertheless, authorities said that it is too early to confirm the cause behind the collapse. Spain's deputy PM and minister of employment Yolanda Díaz expressed her support for the families of the workers. According to Martínez-Almeida, "the papers (for the construction work) were in order from an urban planning point of view" and "the reform was being carried out in accordance with the authorisation that had been granted". "Aside from a more in-depth and thorough review that may be carried out, everything appears to be fine for now," he said.
"The papers were in order from an urban planning point of view" and "the reform was being carried out in accordance with the authorisation that had been granted"
The Municipal Police kept the area cordoned off and evacuated adjacent buildings and establishments for safety purposes. "They won't let me go home or give me any information," said David, a 20-year-old student who lives on Calle Hileras. Local shopkeepers and business owners also complained, as they were unable to open in the afternoon. Shortly before midnight, the mayor assured local residents that they would be able to spend the night in their homes, with "special surveillance by the police and the fire brigade".
Building collapse: an endemic disease
This is not the first incident of this nature that has happened in Madrid. Two workers died in May 2024 after another building under construction in the Fuencarral-El Pardo district collapsed. One of the most tragic events occurred in January 2021, when a gas explosion in a building on Calle Toledo caused the partial collapse of the upper floors of a six-storey building, causing a total of four deaths. In 2018, another building under renovation collapsed, leaving one dead, while in August 2015 two buildings collapsed in different parts of the Spanish capital.
