MALLORCA has announced two days of mourning after an apartment fire caused by a faulty refrigerator killed two people and left a 77-year-old British woman fighting for her life in hospital.
A ‘very violent’ blaze erupted at around 5.20 am on Thursday on the third floor of the Trianon II apartment building in tourist hotspot Magaluf.
A 58-year-old Argentinian man, who lived on the ninth floor, and an unidentified woman died in the stairwell while trying to escape the inferno, according to the Guardia Civil.
The blaze left a further 24 people injured including eight firefighters and a 77-year-old British woman who is reportedly in a critical condition.
She was rushed to Son Espases Hospital in Palma before being transferred to Palma’s Clinica Juaneda, where she is being treated for first-degree burns in a hyperbaric chamber.
The deadly blaze broke out in the early hours of Thursday morning at the Trianon II building, a 37-apartment residential complex on Carrer Martin Ros Garcia on Magaluf’s beachfront.
Firefighters, Guardia Civil officers and Calvia Policia Local were called to the scene as the fire rapidly spread throughout the nine-storey building.
According to the Calvia town council, residents initially tried to extinguish the blaze themselves inadvertently leading the fire to spread.
After battling the fire for seven hours, firefighters announced they had extinguished the blaze at noon.
Firefighters believe that the fire was caused by a faulty fridge in a third-floor apartment which short circuited.
Juan Antonio Amengual, the mayor of Calvia said: “At first it appeared to be a minor fire, but it has turned out to be extremely serious with a very violent blaze that started on the third floor of a nine-storey building.”
“We are devastated and deeply saddened. The two deaths have been confirmed and there is a third person in a critical condition at Son Espases Hospital,” he continued.
He also declared two official days of mourning in the municipality and said that the council is working to arrange relocation solutions for the dozens of affected residents, offering them hotel rooms in Calvia and Palma.
Amengual described the incident as a ‘drama’, coming as the tourist season gets underway on the island.
Every summer, Magaluf welcomes thousands of tourists, with the resort a particular favourite of Brits and Germans
The tragedy has cast a shadow over the start of the holiday season, with investigators continuing to examine the exact circumstances surrounding the fire.
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