Spain At least two dead after building collapses in Madrid
At least two workers have died in the collapse of a building under construction in the center of Madrid. The bodies were found in the rubble late in the evening, almost ten hours after the accident, announced the mayor of the Spanish capital, José Martínez Almeida. Two people were still missing in the evening.
08.10.2025, 01:26
SDA
One of the bodies had already been recovered, the mayor said. The emergency services had not yet reached the second. According to the authorities, three men and one woman were among the four people initially reported missing. The woman was the architect in charge of the project, they said. Three workers were also injured in the collapse early on Tuesday afternoon.
The multi-storey building not far from Opernplatz partially collapsed at around 1.00 pm. "Several ceiling structures of the building, which was under reconstruction, have collapsed," Madrid emergency services spokeswoman Beatriz Martín told journalists. The cause of the accident is still unclear. "It's still too early to talk about it," said Martín.
"Like a bomb"
Eyewitnesses reported a loud bang and thick dust. "You suddenly couldn't see anything," José, who works in a nearby bar, told TV station RTVE. Boyana, an employee of a bakery near the scene of the accident, reported: "It sounded like a bomb, we were all very scared."
According to the authorities, one of the three injured men suffered a leg fracture and was taken to hospital. Two workers were only slightly injured and were treated on site. The area around the collapse site in the popular tourist district was cordoned off immediately after the incident.
Search with drones and sniffer dogs
16 units of the Madrid fire department were temporarily deployed to secure the rubble, prevent further collapses and search for possible victims. Sniffer dogs and drones were also used. The operation initially continued after dark, albeit on a very limited scale.
According to RTVE, the building in Calle Hileras, which previously housed offices, had been approved for conversion into tourist accommodation. The city of Madrid issued the corresponding license for future use as accommodation in February, it said.
Mayor Martínez Almeida explained that it was "difficult" that the two people who were still missing would be found alive. At the same time, he emphasized that the construction work had been carried out "properly from an urban planning point of view".
