MADRID: Madrid’s emergency services have said that at least two people died and several injured in a blast that an initial assessment linked to a gas leak. The explosion partially destroyed a building.
A Spanish state lawyer and politician, José Luis Martínez Almeida, who visited the site of the blast, told the local media that he couldn’t confirm how many people had been injured. He said that no serious damage had been initially registered in the nearby school.
Images and footage shared on social media showed a tower of smoke coming out from the six-story building and rubble scattered in Toledo Street, near the city center. Emergency crews could be seen aiding several people on the ground in a video aired by a Spanish public broadcaster. There were no immediate reports of deaths.
The school nearby was empty, according to TVE, because classes had not resumed yet following a record snowfall in the Spanish capital on Jan. 9.
In a tweet, the Madrid regional emergency service said that rescue teams, firefighters and police were working in a central area of the Spanish capital following the explosion.
Leire Reparaz, an area female resident, told the media that she heard a loud explosion some minutes before 3 p.m. local when she was heading to her home near the Puerta de Toledo, a local landmark.
“We didn’t know where the sound came from. We all thought it was from the school. We went up the stairs to the top of our building and we could see the structure of the building and lots of grey smoke,” the 24-year-old Madrid resident said.
A reporter for TVE said several people had been injured, without giving details. A witness told Telemadrid broadcaster that there was at least one person trapped inside.
