Four dead in Madrid as a building collapses

The collapse of a building in the centre of Madrid has resulted in the death of four people and the discovery of the last two missing persons.

About two o'clock in the morning, the firefighters found the last two bodies in the rubble of the building, on Hileras Street, between the Opera and the Puerta del Sol, where part of the building collapsed at about 1300 hours on Tuesday.

Just before midnight, the first two bodies were rescued. 

The four people who were reported missing after the collapse of part of the building, who were under construction (about 40 people were working), a manager named Laura (who was initially reported to be the architect of the project) and three workers named Dambéle, Alpha and Jorge, from Mali, Guinea and Ecuador, between the ages of 30 and 50, all workers of the construction company ANKA.

Two of the workers were in the basement bathrooms and the third on the top floor of the six-storey building at the time of the accident.

The mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez Almeida, was unable to confirm at the scene that the murdered woman was an architect of the work, but confirmed that she held a position of responsibility.

The Scientific Police of the Madrid Municipal Police and the National Police have taken over the identification of the bodies rescued so far. The judge in charge of the case has been at the scene until 3 a.m.

When asked about the causes of the collapse, the Mayor of Madrid has assured us that it is up to the Judicial Police to investigate the exact causes of the collapse of the sixth floor forged, since from there all the floors have collapsed.

The incident occurred at 4 Hileras Street, between Opera Square and the Puerta del Sol, after 13:00 on Tuesday, when the forging inside a building that is being restored to become a four-star hotel collapsed.