Four dead after six-storey building collapses in Madrid
Three men and one woman have been confirmed dead, with another three workers injured.
Four people have died after the top floor of a six-storey building collapsed in Madrid.
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The building in central Madrid was being renovated when it crumbled, crashing onto the floors below and fatally crushing four people on Tuesday afternoon.
It took firefighters 15 hours to trawl through the rubble with the help of drones and sniffer dogs to recover the bodies from "several floors" deep inside the debris.
Three men and one woman have been confirmed dead, with another three workers injured.
One construction worker sustained a leg fracture while others were treated for injuries and shock, Madrid Emergency Services said.
Witness Milagros Garcia Benito, who works near the building, described hearing "an enormous explosion, it blew out the glass and everything".
"Lots of white dust, you couldn't see anything. Firefighters and police started arriving quickly," she told AFP.
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A construction worker, who requested anonymity, told El Pais: “There could have been up to 40 people inside the building. At the moment of the collapse, we heard a noise from the floors, and then just a cloud of dust.”
Residents reported feeling a tremor in the street as the building collapsed .
Police are investigating the disaster as a workplace accident.
Local politician Francisco Martin Aguirre told reporters at the scene the collapse "caused the different floors to also give way down to the basement of the building".
"The damage there is very severe, and the possible impact on adjacent buildings is also being analysed," he added.
Deputy Mayor Inma said the vast amounts of rubble left behind could take days to clear.
The former office building, built in 1965, was being renovated into a hotel after being granted a permit in February.