At least 13 people have been killed in a fire outbreak at a nightclub in Murcia, Southeast Spain, Emergency Services said on Sunday.
According to the Services, rescuers were still searching for people unaccounted for after the inferno.
Report said outside the club, young people hugged, looking shocked as they waited for information after the fire that broke out in the early hours in Atalayas, on the outskirts of the city.
An unidentified survivor said: “I think we left 30 seconds to 1 minute before the alarms went off and all the lights went out (and) the screams saying there was a fire. Five family members and two friends are missing.”
Spanish media reported that several of the dead were from one group that was celebrating a birthday.
Diego Seral of Spain’s National Police, told reporters the dead were found in the Fonda Milagros nightclub, one of three adjoining clubs, which had sustained the majority of fire damage, including the collapse of its roof.
He said the collapse roof was making it difficult to locate victims, and it was difficult to pinpoint yet where exactly the fire started.
Police investigators have not yet been able to access the site due to the high temperatures and danger of collapse.
The identification of the bodies would take time, Seral said. The Emergency Services gave the death toll, which has risen steadily throughout the day, as 13. The cause of the fire is being investigated.
Murcia’s Mayor Jose Ballesta told journalists earlier that seven bodies had been found in the same area of the first floor, where the fire broke out.
Ballesta declared three days of mourning for those who had died. Flags were lowered at half mast outside Murcia’s City Hall.
“We are devastated,” he said on Spanish TV channel 24h, adding rescuers were still searching for several people reported missing.
Ballesta told 24h the fire started at around 6 a.m and had since been brought under control.
A spokesperson for the Teatre nightclub, Maria Dolores Albellan, said the fire started in the neighbouring club, Fonda Milagros, before spreading to the two adjoining clubs.
A video released by Murcia’s Fire Service showed firefighters working to control flames inside the nightclub. The fire had destroyed part of the roof, the footage showed.
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