Khaberni - Two people were killed and two others remain missing in the collapse of a building undergoing renovation in a tourist district in central Madrid on Tuesday, according to Spanish authorities.
Madrid Mayor José Luis Martínez Almeida told reporters on Tuesday night, about 10 hours after the building collapsed, that rescue teams had recovered the body of one of the deceased and were continuing efforts to retrieve the body of the other after having located it, while "there are still two people not yet found."
He added that the first body retrieved from under the rubble of the collapsed building was that of a man, but he does not know "for certain" whether the second body found, which has not yet been retrieved, is that of a man or a woman.
According to Deputy Mayor Inmaculada Sanz, the deceased and the missing are three men and a woman.
According to Spanish media, the woman was the project engineer, while the three men were construction workers.
The collapse of the building also resulted in a number of injuries, with one of them requiring hospitalization.
Francisco Martín Aguirre, the Governor of the Madrid region, told reporters that "the roof of one floor collapsed, leading to the collapse of the rest of the floors down to the building’s basement. Hence, the damage is very substantial, and the possible impact on neighboring buildings is also being analyzed."
According to the mayor, it was the floor of the sixth level that collapsed first, causing the collapse of the rest of the floors down to the ground floor.
The incident occurred on a street in central Madrid near the famous tourist spot "Plaza Mayor" around 1:30 PM.
The building was undergoing renovation to become a 4-star hotel.
