MALLORCA. An evening like many others. Of music and customers dancing on the terrace. Then, shortly after 8pm Thursday May 23, the party suddenly turns into tragedy. The dynamics are still being examined by investigators: there is certainly a collapse of the external space of the Medusa Beach Club, to Playa de Palma, in Mallorca, Spain. The situation appeared very serious from the moments immediately following the collapse. Upon the arrival of the firefighters and the police, the tragic premonition became a terrible reality: there were deaths and injuries.
The budget
Rescuers dig through the rubble relentlessly as the toll worsens. There are at least four dead and around 30 injured. Hundreds of people gathered in via Cartago 36, a Ses Cadenes, where the police cordoned off the area of the collapse to allow rescue operations. There are people trapped under the rubble.
The alarm and the rescue
According to the first information gathered, it was the residents in the vicinity of the premises who alerted the police and the civil guard immediately after the collapse. All available ambulances in Palma were moved to the Medusa Beach Club. Some witnesses explained that they heard a loud noise and then screams. The mayor of Palma, Jaime Martinez and the first deputy mayor, Javier Bonetarrived in via Cartago and spoke with the local police commanders to clarify the circumstances of the tragedy.
At the moment, according to what the Spanish media report, only one of the four victims has been identified: Abdoulaye Diopa Senegalese man who made headlines in 2017 for saving a swimmer.
The testimonies
A witness told reporters on the scene that he heard the collapse: “It was like a bomb,” he said. The place, according to several residents of the area, had been renovated “a couple of years ago” and the collapsed part was used as a chill out. Shortly after hearing the news, many curious people, including tourists, approached the police cordon, and some even went around it, to get closer to the collapsed factory. A man, perhaps the manager of the restaurant, who was trapped between two large slabs under the building, was rescued by the local police: he only suffered injuries to his arm. To verify whether there are actually other people left under the rubble, the police are asking everyone around the building to remain silent.
From the Farnesina
The Farnesina is in contact with the consulate general in Barcelona and with the Honorary Consul in Mallorca and at the moment, as far as we know, there is no confirmation of Italians involved in the collapse of a restaurant in Mallorca. On the Spanish island four people died and thirty were injured.
