FOUR people were killed after a six-storey office block collapsed during renovation – with the project manager now pictured as one of the victims.
Spanish authorities confirmed they recovered four bodies from the building’s wreckage after it fell down in a busy tourist area in the capital.
Four workers have died after a building collapsed in Spain[/caption]
Lara Rodriguez Sabin, a manager on the construction project, died amid the collapse[/caption]
Laura Rodriguez, 30, Moussa Dembele, 40, Diallo Mamadún and Jorge were found amid the grim rubble on Calle de las Hileras Madrid.
Tragic Laura was a Spanish architect and production manager of the construction project according to her social media accounts.
Dad-of-five Moussa from Mali, Guinean national Diallo, and Jorge, from Ecuador, were all reportedly working on construction when part of the building fell.
The huge complex partly collapsed just before 1pm on Tuesday, injuring three people and sparking a desperate search for several missing amid the chaos.
Two of the victims’ bodies were found just before midnight, before the others were discovered in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Emergency services said firefighters were working at the scene near tourist hotspot Plaza Mayor “after the collapse of various floor slabs”.
One worker who dramatically cheated death following the horrifying ordeal told Spanish media: “I’m alive only because I left to eat something.
“As I came round the corner the whole building collapsed. I saw how the sun disappeared.”
Around 40 people were thought to have been inside the building at the time.
Firefighters and police with sniffer dogs took part in the gruelling search for the bodies while authorities also used drones.
A police investigation has been launched into the building, which had been undergoing construction work since June.
But the block reportedly had an “unfavourable” technical inspection in 2022, which detailed the conditions of its exterior, roofs and terraces, according to 20minutos.
Spokesperson for one of the companies working on the project Anka Demoliciones, claimed the cave in was an accident and not caused by negligence.
Authorities said the incident “caused the different floors to also give way down to the basement of the building”.
They said: “The damage there is very severe, and the possible impact on adjacent buildings is also being analysed.”
Madrid mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida said on X: “With deep sadness we can confirm city firefighters have rescued the lifeless bodies of the two people that were still missing following the collapse in Hileras Street.
“All our affection and support for the victims’ families, friends and colleagues at this very difficult moment for them.”
Shocking footage showed the aftermath of the collapse[/caption]
A witness who works as a hairdresser near the building told AFP there was “an enormous explosion, it blew out the glass and everything”.
She said: “Lots of white dust, you couldn’t see anything… firefighters and police started arriving quickly.”
The interior of the building collapsed, but its front exterior remained unscathed by the cave in.
The 60-year-old building that collapsed was reportedly owned by a Saudi Arabian multi-millionaire named locally as Rashid Saad Al Rashid.
The block was being transformed from an office into a luxury four-star hotel with a ground-floor restaurant.
It is in the heart of one of Madrid’s most popular tourist areas.
And it is just a five-minute walk from the city’s most famous and most central square La Puerta del Sol.
