A 56-year-old British woman was reportedly one of two people killed following a gas explosion at a bar in San Pedro del Pinatar, Murcia, southern Spain, as she was walking by a local market
A British woman has tragically died following a powerful gas explosion at a bar in southern Spain, according to reports.
The 56-year-old was one of two women killed after a gas canister exploded at the Casa Javi bar in San Pedro del Pinatar in Murcia last Thursday. The unnamed Brit, who reportedly lived in the area, was going by the weekly market when she was struck by the blast. Their deaths were today confirmed by the local council in a post on X. The other fatal victim was the 38-year-old owner of the bar, a woman of Moroccan origin named Hind, who suffered severe burns.
Both victims had been hospitalised for a week following the incident which saw at least 15 other people injured. Local police, ambulances and firefighters rushed to the scene at around 12:23pm local time on June 19, following 25 calls from members of the public.
A police source told the newspaper El Espanol that the British woman died from head injuries. “She received a head wound from the blast while going by the weekly market,” they said.
The local council wrote on X: “From the San Pedro del Pinatar local council we want to express our most sincere condolences over the deaths of two people who were seriously injured in an explosion in Lo Pagan on June 19.”
The bar was closed at the time but the explosion caused heavy damage to the building and nearby market stalls. The weekly street market was taking place right next to the bar and so there were more people than there would normally be in the area at the time of the blast.
Images from the scene show the Casa Javi’s awning ripped in half and debris, such as doors, littering the popular market street in the centre of Lo Pagan. Market stalls and several other establishments were damaged by the powerful blast.
A witness to the explosion, who owns a shop nearby, said: “My entire business shook, the windows and everything.” The woman said that paramedics were quickly on the scene and police cordoned off the area but she added that she saw “people with significant injuries and bleeding”.
A week on from the explosion detectives are continuing to investigate the cause and this is ongoing with no conclusions yet drawn amid fears it may have been caused deliberately. A Judicial Police inspection found that a butane gas cylinder’s seal had been ‘sabotaged’, which caused the explosion.
Local residents have told local media that there had been complaints about the business. “There were a lot of fights outside,” a person told 20Minutos, adding that residents had talked of it being used as a brothel.