Reports said that a fire at a bar in Murcia, Spain, early on Sunday killed at least 13 people and left 15 others missing.
At around 6 a.m. (4 a.m. GMT/9.30 a.m. IST), a fire broke out at the Fonda Milagros bar. A video posted online showed the building covered in flames and thick, dark smoke rising out of its windows.
People who are missing but were in the building at the time are being looked for by emergency forces. Policeman Diego Seral told Spanish TV station RTE that 15 people were still missing. One of them was a 28-year-old woman who had sent a voice message to her mother saying that they were going to die, the BBC said.
Around 8 a.m., firefighters were finally able to get into the house, where they found four bodies, then two more, and then several more as they searched. It is not clear what caused the fire, which started when the club was still busy.
Local media say that many of the victims who have been found so far were at a birthday party. The mayor of Murcia, Jose Ballesta, said on Spanish TV station 24h, “We are devastated.” He also said that searchers were still looking for a number of people who had been reported missing. He has said that people should be sad for three days. This is thought to be the worst fire in a Spanish bar in more than 30 years. In Zaragoza in 1990, a fire killed 43 people.
