Tragedy on the Ballermann: At least four people died when a restaurant collapsed on Playa de Palma in Mallorca on Thursday evening. In addition, 16 people were injured, some of them seriously, said the police on the Spanish holiday island. Nothing was initially known about the cause of the accident or the identity of the victims. However, it can be assumed that, in addition to restaurant employees and local visitors, there are also tourists among those affected. Around midnight, emergency services were still frantically searching for victims under the rubble.
The accident happened right on the beach, just a few streets away from the cult bars Megapark and Bierkönig. The Medusa Beach Club building collapsed around 8:30 p.m. The first floor collapsed down to the basement, the newspaper “El País” and other media reported, citing eyewitnesses. However, a police spokesman had good news shortly before midnight: “With 90 percent certainty” there were no more victims under the rubble, he told the DPA news agency when asked.
Javier, a resident of Playa de Palma, was in the immediate vicinity when the building on Cartago Street collapsed quickly like a house of cards, but with a loud noise. “It sounded like a bomb,” he told a reporter from the regional newspaper Última Hora. Other people said the building was only renovated “a few years ago.” The part on the first floor that collapsed was used as a chill-out area.
At the time of the collapse, the restaurant, which partly also functioned as a cocktail bar with live music, was full, media reported. Around midnight, police, fire and emergency service units were still on duty at the scene of the accident. Psychologists were still caring for victims and witnesses of the tragedy.
The regional newspapers “Diario de Mallorca” and “Última Hora” reported that up to 1,000 people gathered in front of the scene of the accident immediately after the collapse. Relatives of employees feared for their loved ones. The mayor of Palma, Jaime Martínez, and the first deputy mayor, Javier Bonet, also quickly drove to the beach to see the tragedy and the rescue work on site.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed his condolences to the families of the dead on the online service X. He also offered support to the regional authorities.
After the start of the party season, Playa de Palma has been full of tourists again since the end of April, most of whom – unlike the visitors to the English party hotspot Magaluf west of Palma – come from Germany.
Note: This article has been updated several times.