A powerful explosion that ripped through a top-floor apartment in a high-rise building in southeastern Madrid and blew out several of its walls has left 16 people injured.
The apartment was inhabited by elderly people and an investigation had been launched into how a gas leak could have sprung and been responsible for the damage, police sources told EFE.
The entire building was evacuated and emergency services set up a small field hospital in a street outside to attend to the injured, most of them hurt by falling bricks and masonry although some had to be treated for anxiety attacks, the sources said.
The explosion caused significant damage to the building and some adjoining homes, the sources said.
A supposed gas explosion has ripped through an entire floor of an apartment block in Madrid. Source: Twitter
The street and some of the vehicles parked below were covered in rubble and many windows belonging to neighbouring homes had been blown in, police said.
Specialist firefighters were reviewing the entire building floor-by-floor to see how much structural damage had been caused to it, while other agents were doing the same to nearby addresses to determine the extent of the destruction and also to verify if there were more people inured.
Roadblocks were set up outside by firefighters as well as Municipal and National Police so as to stop anyone else being injured by falling rubble, the sources said.
The National Police had deployed its specialist rapid reaction and scientific units, the sources said.
