Several Injured in Major Gas Explosion at Madrid Bar

At least 25 people have been injured in a huge gas explosion at a bar in Madrid.

Of those hit by the blast, three have critical injuries and another two potentially serious wounds, emergency services said.

The incident took place at around 3pm on Manuel Maroto Street, located in the Puente de Vallecas district of Madrid. The mishap also impacted the residential flats situated above the bar.

Emergency services were scrambled to the scene, with sniffer dogs and drones being deployed to provide additional support.

Firefighters were busy removing debris from the site in the Vallecas neighborhood of the capital, according to Madrid emergency services who shared footage on X. The video displayed the bar’s partially fallen ceiling along with bricks scattered across the ground.

Sniffer dogs were also seen combing through the wreckage. 

Doors were torn from their hinges, leaving shards of glass spread across the road outside. Meanwhile, first responders quickly transported a victim on a stretcher.

The civil protection and medical services had treated 25 people, with three of them in a ‘serious’ and two in a ‘potentially serious’ condition, the emergency services said.

Neighbours told El Pais that the blast occurred in an area treated as an inhabited ground floor.

Police have closed off a section of the street and are directing traffic on adjoining roads.

In a statement on X, Madrid’s council wrote: ‘[Police] have attended to 21 injured people, 3 of them serious and 2 potentially serious.

’18 [firefighting] units are continuing to work on removing the debris. They are being joined by the canine unit.

‘The Aerial Support Section of Madrid Police is working with drones.’

It comes after a British woman was killed in a gas explosion at a bar in southern Spain.

The 56-year-old was one of two women killed after a gas canister exploded at the Casa Javi bar in San Pedro del Pinatar in Murcia in June.

The unnamed Brit, who reportedly lived in the area, was visiting the weekly market when she was struck by the blast.

Their deaths were today confirmed by the local town hall in a post on X.

The other fatal victim was the 38-year-old owner of the bar, a woman of Moroccan origin named Hind, who suffered severe burns, reports El Español.

The respected Spanish newspaper said the British woman was an expat who lives in the Lo Pagan area.