Accessibility links

Breaking News

At Least 77 Hurt in Gas Cylinder Explosion in Spain

In this still image taken from video, police and rescue services are pictured at the scene after a gas cylinder exploded in a cafe in Velez-Malaga, Spain, Oct. 1, 2016.
In this still image taken from video, police and rescue services are pictured at the scene after a gas cylinder exploded in a cafe in Velez-Malaga, Spain, Oct. 1, 2016.

At least 77 people have been injured, five of them seriously, after a gas cylinder exploded on Saturday in a restaurant in the Spanish town of Velez-Malaga on the southern coast, a spokesman for the Andalucia region's emergency unit said.

The spokesman said the explosion occurred at about 1700 GMT during a festival in the town, which is 40 km east of the popular tourist destination of Malaga.

Video footage posted on social media showed people fleeing a fire inside a small restaurant called La Bohemia close to the center of Velez-Malaga, with the street outside covered in debris.

None of those seriously injured were at risk of death, a spokesman for the local hospital said. The majority of injuries were cuts and bruises.

El Pais newspaper said a cook at the restaurant was able to alert customers to a fire in the kitchen, which gave most enough time to escape serious injury.

  • 16x9 Image

    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

XS
SM
MD
LG