Dilip Kuner
A RAGING inferno has reduced a popular beach hotspot on the Costa del Sol to ashes – and now police are investigating if it was a targeted attack.
Holidaymakers and locals watched in horror as El Silencio, a trendy beach club in Torremolinos, went up in flames in the early hours of this morning (April 18). The fire tore through the venue on Playa de los Alamos, with dramatic footage showing firefighters battling towering flames engulfing the entire chiringuito.
“There’s nothing left – it’s totally gone,” said one witness. “It lit up the whole seafront.”
Crews from the Malaga Provincial Fire Service rushed in from Torremolinos and Alhaurin de la Torre, but by the time they arrived, the building was already ablaze ‘from end to end’. Despite favourable weather – with winds pushing smoke out to sea – the fire proved violent and fast-moving, reaching barbecues and nearby loungers before firefighters finally got it under control.
Miraculously, no one was injured. But with the blaze being described as ‘suspicious,’ police have now launched a full investigation into how the fire started.
The fire comes just months after another seaside eatery in Marbella’s swanky Puerto Banús went up in smoke.
In January, a 36-year-old man was arrested after allegedly setting fire to a wooden beach bar – causing major damage before emergency crews managed to douse the flames.
Witnesses helped police identify a man with a blue jacket walking a dog near the scene. Officers later found the suspect dumping the jacket in a bin, claiming it was “broken.”
But CCTV footage from the chiringuito told a different story – showing the same man inside the premises shortly before the blaze began. He was promptly cuffed and charged with arson.
READ MORE:
- Watch: Marbella beach club is torched in morning ‘arson attack’: Police arrest dog walker suspect
- Mallorca beach club where four people died after its roof caved in ‘did not have correct licences’
IN PICS: Fire at Marbella’s Playa Padre extinguished as police tape off torched beach club and more details emerge
