Tragedy in Madrid: four dead including architect as six-storey building collapse

A tragic building collapse in the Madrid city centre took the lives of four individuals including three males and a female.

Rescue workers have retrieved the bodies of all four victims in the rescue operation that lasted hours on Wednesday, October 8.

The six storey building collapsed when three Ecuadorian Mali and Guinea-Conakry male construction workers and a 30-year-old woman, who was an architect of the project.

The building, which was being transformed to a four-star hotel, collapsed on the interiors on Tuesday afternoon, October 7, close to the Royal Palace and Opera.

Its front was still there and with one floor after another collapsing on top of the victims.

Almost 15 hours following the incident, all four missing people had been declared dead by the emergency services.

In addition to the victims, three other construction workers had severe injuries with one having a broken leg.

One of the workers, Mikhail, who was not inside the structure at the time, recounted that he had witnessed a huge cloud of dust and fled for his life.

The tragedy has also cast some urgent doubts on the status of the building.

The 1965 edifice has negative reported ratings of technical inspection in 2012 and 2022 citing the state of its facade, roof, and plumbing.

The government has initiated the investigation into the reason behind the collapse and is being considered as an accident that occurred in the workplace. According to the office of the mayor, the developer, Rehbilita, had the legitimate permits to convert the hotel.