At least six people were reportedly injured after a suspected gas blast ripped through a house in central Madrid on Friday. There was no immediate word on the death toll.
Emergency crews have been rushed to the scene of the explosion, which reportedly took place in the upmarket Salamanca area of the city.
Madrid Mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida said that four people were rushed to hospital, one in serious condition, adding that the cause of the explosion was not yet clear. According to him, “some kind of works were being done in the building” where the blast took place.
“Firefighters are inside checking the building’s structure and to determine whether more people could be inside”, Martinez-Almeida he told Telemadrid TV channel.
A video that has been shared online showed the aftermath of the reported blast; the road is littered with rubble and debris.
Three stories of the building are said to have been damaged by the blast as local media reports indicate that some people may be trapped inside.
According to a spokeswoman for the local emergency services, the incident took place on General Pardinas Street and the building “was badly damaged”.
A spokesperson for the regional government-run emergency coordination in turn tweeted that “Firefighters, paramedics and police are working in the area”, urging residents “to avoid the area to facilitate the movement of vehicles”.
The Spanish newspaper El Pais cited unnamed municipal sources as saying that the blast took place in a four-story building and that firefighters are “working inside it at the moment”.
The developments come after four people were killed and ten more injured in an explosion that partially damaged a building in Madrid in January.