A Catholic priest who was retrieved from the rubble of a Church building in central Madrid that was destroyed by a presumed gas explosion died on Thursday, the Madrid archdiocese said in a statement.
Three other people were known to have died from the blast on Wednesday and 10 others were injured.
All available evidence pointed to the blast in Calle Toledo, a street leading out from the city center, being caused by a gas leak, Madrid’s Emergency Services said, although the factors which triggered the leak were yet to be determined.
“It was completely nerve-wracking… I heard and felt the explosion but didn’t know where it came from,” said local Isabel Romero, whose 8-year-old son is a student at a school next to the building where the explosion occurred.
“All of the windows in one of the classrooms shattered and the children were very shaken.”
Firefighters were still on the scene late in the evening, with Madrid’s Emergency services tweeting: “The [building’s] state has yet to be determined… and gas is burning at a controlled rate.”
Electrician David Santos Muñoz, a 35-year-old father of four, was identified as one of the dead, Madrid’s Archdiocese said in a tweet.
Spanish authorities said an 85-year-old woman also died in the explosion, and Bulgaria’s foreign ministry said the third victim was a 47-year-old Bulgarian citizen.
The building was a complex for priests and gave meals to the homeless, a neighbor said.
Victims in Toledo street being treated by emergency services at the scene of an explosion in the center of Madrid, thought to have been caused by a gas leak on Wednesday. Photo: VCG
