Simon Hunter
OFFICERS from Spain’s Policia Nacional have identified the four victims who died last night when a first-floor terrace collapsed at the Medusa Beach Club restaurant in Palma, on the Balearic Island of Mallorca.
The people who lost their lives were a Spanish female employee at the venue, aged 23; two female German tourists, aged in their 20s and 30s; and a Senegalese national resident in Palma and aged 44.
Officers were still working on Friday morning to identify the 16 people who were injured in the incident, many of whom were not carrying identification.
Given that the area is very popular with German tourists, most of the injured are thought to be foreigners according to the emergency services.
Read more: At least 4 dead after building collapse at popular beach bar in Spain’s Mallorca
Seven of the injured were reported by local media to be in a critical condition on Friday morning, meaning that the death toll could rise as the day progresses.
The Medusa Beach Club serves not just as a restaurant, but also as a bar and nightclub.
According to a report in the Daily Mail, the terrace of the two-storey building collapsed through to the basement at around 8pm.
Just a day before the incident, the venue had posted a photo of the rooftop bar, with the caption: “Totally different. New rooftop.”
According to the public television network on the Balearic Islands, people were dancing on the terrace before it collapsed. This, however, is yet to be confirmed by the authorities.
The Senegalese national killed in the accident has been named by Spanish media as Abdoulaye Diop.
He was working as a doorman at a local nightclub, and was well known for having saved a man from drowning off the coast of the Playa de Palma.
News reports stated that he had stopped at the Medusa Beach Club after having been at the gym.
Early reports last night after the accident happened said that rescue workers were looking for as many as 10 people under the rubble of the building, but by Friday morning officials told reporters that no one else was caught in the debris.
The authorities are working on the assumption that excess weight caused the structure to collapse.
Palma City Hall has declared three days of mourning in the wake of the tragedy.
