A bar explosion in Spain that injured 20 was caused deliberately, according to the Guardia Civil. Specialists say a deliberate cut was made to the rubber casing on a gas butane cylinder at Casa Javi.
Local police, ambulances and firefighters rushed to the scene in the Lo Pagán area of San Pedro del Pinatar at around 12:23pm local time on June 19 following 25 calls from members of the public. At the time it was believed three people were in serious condition. Two women were admitted to the Virgen de la Arrixaca Hospital in Murcia City.
Both women who were standing next to each other at the weekly Lo Pagan street market on Avenida remain in hospital in critical condition with one of the victims having suffered burns over most of her body.
One of the women is the leaseholder of the bar which she had converted into a cafe. Guardia Civil officers are waiting to speak to the tenant of the bar who remains unconscious in hospital.
The incident also caused significant damage to the Casa Javi building, on Torres Fontes Street in the little seaside town; people at the weekly Lo Pagan street market on Avenida Salvillo also sustained injuries.
Fire experts said there was no structural damage to the building and subsequent inspections uncovered that a rubber casing of a butano cylinder had been tampered with.
The night before the explosion, San Pedro Policia Local officers saw the bar owner on a beach, according to the Olive Press.
Photos from the scene show the bar’s awning snapped into pieces, with nearby fruit and vegetable stalls collapsed onto the ground as passersby kneel down in a bid to clear up the mess.
Several police officers were also seen speaking to stallholders amid the wreckage.
This is not the first time the bar has suffered a fire as only five years ago there was a fire, affecting home owners above it.