Fire crews in Madrid recovered a man’s body on Sunday while searching through the debris of a bar flattened by an explosion that left another 25 people hurt, two of them in serious condition.
Authorities believe a gas leak may have caused Saturday’s blast in the Vallecas district of the capital, though officials stressed it is still too soon to confirm the exact origin.
Rescue teams, assisted by sniffer dogs, sifted carefully through the ground floor rubble, working among collapsed walls and twisted structures.
‘The work has been pretty complicated, with lots of personnel, because it has been necessary to go more or less stone by stone and brick by brick,’ said fire service spokesman Javier Ramos.
He said that firefighters pulled four people from the rubble after the explosion occurred at around 3pm on Saturday on the ground floor of a three-story building. He said that the blast damaged a cafe, a store and other properties.
Emergency services in Madrid announced on X that the victim’s body was located in the early hours of Sunday. A civil protection psychologist was present to support family members.
Officials also confirmed that 25 people received medical attention following the blast, with two patients transferred to hospital in ‘serious’ condition.
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