Madrid: At least 13 people were killed and 15 others are still missing after a fire broke out in a nightclub in Murcia, Spain, early Sunday morning. The incident took place at the Fonda Milagros nightclub around 6am (4am GMT/9.30am IST) and a video shared online showed the building engulfed in flames and its windows blown out, the BBC reports. Thick, dark smoke is shown billowing out.
Emergency services are searching for people who are missing and were on the premises at the time. Policeman Diego Serral told Spanish TV channel RTE that 15 people were still missing, including a 28-year-old woman who sent a voice message to her mother saying she was going to die, the BBC reports. Firefighters eventually managed to enter the building around 8 a.m. and during their search discovered four bodies, then two more, and several more bodies. It is unclear what caused the fire, which occurred while the club was still occupied.
According to local media reports, many of the victims identified so far had attended a birthday party. “We are devastated,” Murcia Mayor Jose Ballesta said on Spanish TV channel 24h. He said rescue workers were still searching for several people reported missing. He has announced three days of mourning. It is believed to be the worst fire to hit a nightclub in Spain in more than 30 years. In 1990, 43 people were killed in a fire in Zaragoza.
