THREE women have been killed in a northern Spain house fire started by one of the ‘victims’ ex-partner’.
The women, aged 78, 58 and 24, passed away after the house in Burgos was ‘deliberately set alight’ on Tuesday night. Four other people, including two children aged seven and eleven, were injured in the blaze.
Sources close to the investigation told El Pais that the suspect is the ex-partner of one of the women who died, his motivation and relationship with the other victims are however unclear.
These motivations and the entire incident are now under investigation with the government’s delegation against gender violence confirming that their main hypothesis at the moment is domestic violence.
The ex-partner who is believed to have started the fire has been arrested with the aforementioned delegation revealing that in 2007 he was on the VioGen system which monitors victims and their aggressors, for a case of violence against another woman was since made inactive.
This suspect handed himself in after realising that the police were ‘looking for him’, said Jose Carlos Donoso, the provincial chief of police in Burgos.
Burgos police arrived at the blazing building at 10.44pm on Tuesday after the emergency services received numerous calls informing them that a property in the centre of Miranda de Ebro was on fire.
Policia Nacional officers, firefighters, two advanced life support units, two basic life support ambulances and a primary care medical team were sent to the property, which sits on Calle Fuente, a street behind the Ayuntamiento building.
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Alongside these officials was a mobile intensive care unit from La Rioja and another from Alava.
It was however too late for them to save the three women whose names and nationalities have been revealed by the subdelegate of the Burgos government, Pedro de la Fuente.
The older victims were Spaniards named Antonia and Dolores while the younger woman was Colombian and called Laura Valentina, according to De la Fuente.
The town’s mayor, Aitana Hernando has sent her condolences to the relatives of victims and declared three days of official mourning.
She also organised a minute’s silence that was held at 12pm today.
To support this minute’s silence, the Junta president, Alfonso Fernandez Manueco, suspended campaigns he had scheduled. He took to social media to express his ‘deep sadness’ at what had happened.
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Carlos Martinez, the PSOE candidate for Castille y Leon at the upcoming elections, echoed these words stating that ‘all our support goes out to the people of Miranda, our condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims, and our wishes for a speedy recovery to those injured’.
Already this year, 10 women in Spain have been killed by their partners or ex-partners. If this incident is confirmed as an act of gender-based violence it will lead statistics to reach the highest that they ever have at this time of the year since record began in 2003.
The Burgos Policia Local and Policia Nacional have been contacted for further information.
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