Two nightclubs, the Teatre and Fonda Milagros, which were at the center of a tragic fire in the Spanish city of Murcia, had been previously ordered to close by local authorities last year, according to local officials.
It was revealed that the company managing both nightclubs had a permit for only one of them, specifically the Teatre, as stated by Murcia’s Deputy Mayor Antonio Navarro. It remains unclear why these clubs continued to operate after the closure order was issued.
The devastating fire claimed the lives of at least 13 individuals, including victims from Colombia, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Spain. Among the deceased were family members who were celebrating a birthday at the time of the tragedy.
While investigations into the fire are ongoing, the cause has not yet been determined.
Deputy Mayor Antonio Navarro expressed the city council’s decision to close the Teatre and Fonda Milagros nightclubs in January 2022. However, he pledged to ascertain responsibility for the fire and did not provide details on how the venues managed to remain operational despite the closure order.
The fire is believed to have started in the Fonda Milagros and subsequently spread to the Teatre and a third nightclub within the same building known as the Golden.
“The fatalities were all concentrated in a very small area in the Fonda establishment,” a police spokesman said.
Mayor Jose Ballesta of Murcia has declared a three-day period of mourning in the city.
The tragic fire is considered to be the most devastating blaze of its kind in Spain in over three decades. The last comparable incident occurred in 1990 when a nightclub fire in Zaragoza claimed the lives of 43 people.