MADRID (SPAIN) – At least two people died and eight were injured on Wednesday after a building in central Madrid belonging to the Catholic Church was bombarded, local authorities said.
One of the injured was in serious condition and was hospitalised.
A Church official said one church volunteer was missing.
Mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida said initial investigations suggested that the blast in Calle Toledo, a street leading out from the city centre, was due to a gas leak.
Smoke was seen billowing out of the partly collapsed building and rescue workers tried to take elderly people from a nearby nursing home to safety.
The top five floors were totally destroyed, with walls in a ravaged state, while the bottom two floors were still mostly unaffected, however, it was charred in parts from the flames.
The building was a complex, where priests got residential training and from where meals were also provided to homeless people, a neighbour said.