A five-story building, the ground floor and four others, collapsed this Tuesday morning in the city of Badalona, in the Barcelona region, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. It is not yet known whether there are people among the rubble, but firefighters are looking for any victims. So far, no injuries have been located, but there are three people missing, young and old.
The Generalitat Firefighters were called to the scene at around 10:35 am, and 14 emergency teams were involved in the operation, in addition to units from the Medical Emergency System (EMS). Civil Protection activated PROCICAT (Catalonia Civil Protection Plan) and the SEM activated five units and a joint team with the Firefighters – who accessed the building via an escalator to find a safe space – as well as a team of psychologists.
On the other hand, the City Council and emergency services are checking records to locate residents. In addition to the teams supporting the structures and the homeless, the Canine Rescue Group was also taken to the site to look for buried victims. O The country reported that the rubble had accumulated and exceeded the height of the first floor, so rescue teams expect the process to continue over the next few days. They will begin to remove the wreckage with a large tonnage crane, in search of victims.
Located at Rua Canigó 9, in the Raval neighborhood, the building was built in 1959, and “collapsed from the attic to the ground floor”, reported the The vanguard. The firefighters also evacuated the more than 40 apartments in the buildings adjacent to the building that suffered the collapse – numbers 7 and 11 on the same street – and detected that a significant crack had occurred in one of them.
According to Badalona Communication, the fire department expects that residents of buildings adjacent to the one affected will be able to return home this afternoon. Currently, they are at the Olympic Pavilion, where the psychologists and lawyers who provide support are also located.
To the The country Stories were received from residents, such as Klimetii’s girlfriend, a young Russian whose girlfriend lives in the building that collapsed and was late, uncontactable, or María’s uncle, removed from number 11 after hearing “an earthquake” and see a crack in the wall of the house. “It was like lightning struck,” said Ángel Legaz, another resident. Despite being old, the building had, according to the mayor, Xavier Garcia Albiol, obtained a certificate from the Technical Housing Inspection last month.