A possible overweight on the terrace of the collapsed Medussa Beach Club restaurant in Platja de Palma (Mallorca) is surely what has caused the infrastructure to collapse. Four people have died and there are almost twenty injured, seven of them very seriously. In the basement of the establishment, the diners’ area, is where the most victims have been found, as explained by the Palma Fire Chief, Eder García, in statements to the media.
The interior of the Medussa Beach Club has collapsed and only the façade of the premises remains standing, located on the beachfront, in an area where there were many people on vacation at that time, which is why the event has caused a great alarm among the tourists who were there.
Tourists and neighbors were the first to alert the emergency services about the collapse when they heard the noise and the screams of the injured people. The event occurred at 8:30 p.m., a very busy time in this area because Mallorca is already in the middle of the tourist season.
During the rescue efforts, those responsible for the operation have requested, in Spanish and English, complete silence from the hundreds of tourists and citizens gathered around the damaged establishment in case any noise could reveal the presence of trapped victims.
Several island authorities approached the area, including the president of the Government, Marga Prohens; the mayor of Palma, Jaime Martínez, and the Government delegate in the Balearic Islands, Alfonso Rodríguez. Palma City Council will decree three days of mourning.
García has detailed that it seems that the terrace on the first floor has collapsed, probably due to excess weight, and from the impact – three or four meters – it has fallen onto a vault, which has also given way. Below, in the basement, the diners’ area was located, which is where the most victims have been found.
At the moment there are four people dead and the number of injured is 16: nine serious and another seven very serious. They remain hospitalized.
The Fire Chief has also pointed out that everything indicates that the victims, middle-aged, were customers of the premises and the majority were foreigners, a fact that has not yet been confirmed. According to the newspaper Última Hora, the first deceased was a Senegalese person who died trapped in the rubble. Later two other girls who were on vacation died. An hour later, a fourth victim complained: a local worker, also a foreigner.
The surrounding buildings have also been evacuated as a precaution, although they have not been affected.
Now the final clearing tasks are being carried out. On Friday morning, technicians from the city council of the Mallorcan capital will travel to the site to corroborate the causes of the collapse.
Mallorca had not experienced an event of this magnitude since 2009, when due to its poor condition a building collapsed – technicians pointed to a possible collapse of the floor – and seven people lost their lives: a German couple and members of a Mallorcan family and another. Colombian. The case motivated Palma City Council to create a non-permanent commission to improve prevention mechanisms for the correct conservation and maintenance of buildings, with a risk map of the city.