Majorca beach tragedy: Palma restaurant unveiled new rooftop bar a day before deadly collapse
A beachside nightclub and restaurant on Majorca which collapsed, killing four people and injuring 16 had unveiled a new rooftop bar just a day before.
Emergency services were called to the Medusa Beach Club in the Playa de Palma area of the Spanish’s island’s main city of Palma at about 8pm local time on Thursday night.
The new rooftop terrace had opened at the venue a day earlier, and police fear it caved in because of “excessive weight” being placed on it although investigations continue.
Local reports said people were dancing on the terrace when it collapsed, sending people falling into the floors below.
The club had posted a photo the day before of the new rooftop bar with the caption: “Totally different. New rooftop.”
Two of the four people who were killed have been described as German tourists.
The other two fatalities include Abdoulaye Diop, a Senegalese migrant who worked as a doorman and is understood to have stopped at the club after leaving the gym to have a coffee.
The fourth victim is thought to be a female friend of Mr Diop’s.
Nine people were “seriously injured” and five suffered “very serious” injuries in the drama around 8pm, according to reports.
Palma’s Deputy Mayor Javier Bonet said on Friday morning: “We can now rule out the possibility there could be more victims.
“This morning around 2.30am firefighters finished the job of clearing all the rubble and concluded the rescue operation.
“As well as the four fatalities, five of the injured are ‘red code’. They are critical but stable.”
Eder Garcia, head of the Palma Fire Brigade, said from the scene overnight: “There are several nationalities and what we know is that most are not from Palma.
“A lot of the names are foreign names but we don’t know yet whether they include staff who were working there or whether they were visitors but we expect many will be tourists.”
“The first floor terrace has collapsed, probably due to excess weight although it’s still under investigation, and it’s impacted on an arch below which has also come down and affected the basement where there was a table football table and there were people
Locals have likened the collapse to a bomb going off.
Raul Pursnani, owner of a shop next door, said: “I was leaving my shop and was outside when everything came down all of a sudden.
“The noise was very loud and the impact was massive. The first floor collapsed onto the one below.”
Palma Town Hall has declared three days of mourning.
The exact cause of the structural failure is currently unknown and is under investigation.
