MADRID (AP) – A powerful gas explosion burst into a residential building in central Madrid on Wednesday, killing at least three people and tearing down the façade of the structure.
A smoke tower came out of the building, where a gas boiler was being repaired, and passed through Toledo Street, near the city center. Aerial images shared by the Spanish National Police showed debris covering a nearby school yard, although the mayor of Madrid said no one was seriously injured at the school.
At least eight people were injured in the blast, a serious one, according to the Madrid emergency service in a tweet. And a technician working in the boiler is missing, according to the representative of the Spanish government in the Madrid region, José Manuel Franco, who confirmed the three deaths.
A police spokesman on the ground told reporters firefighters were trying to put out a small fire inside the damaged building before they could bring search dogs and special rescue equipment to look for possible survivors.
An Associated Press reporter saw emergency workers carrying two bodies away from the area, one that firefighters covered with a blue blanket and another surrounded by reflective emergency sheets.
The building belongs to the nearby Catholic parish of La Paloma and housed offices and apartments for some of its priests, according to the Archbishop of Madrid, Carlos Osoro, on the Spanish public broadcaster TVE, which confirmed that none of the clergy were one of the victims.
Emy Lee Grau, a resident of the area who watched television in a street building, said the timing of the blast was “terrifying.”
“Everything was shaking, it seemed like the ceiling was falling. We were frightened when we saw the amount of smoke coming out of the church building, “the 20-year-old from Madrid told The Associated Press.
A nearby nursing home was evacuated and no injuries were initially reported among residents, Madrid Mayor José Luis Martínez Almeida told reporters on the ground. The 55 residents of the house were initially taken to a hotel across the street and later sent to other nursing homes, officials said.
Martinez Almeida also said some minor damage had been identified at a nearby school, where he said people suffered nothing but “scratches.”
Neighborhood neighbor Leire Reparaz said she heard the blast and did not immediately know where it came from.
“We all thought he was from school. We went up the stairs to the top of our building and we could see the structure of the building and a lot of gray smoke, ”said the 24-year-old.
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Associated Press photographer Paul White contributed to this report.