MADRID: An explosion gutted a bar in Madrid on Saturday injuring 25 people, three of them seriously, Spanish authorities said, while ruling out more victims being trapped under rubble.

Firefighters were clearing debris at the premises in the capital’s Vallecas neighbourhood, Madrid emergency services announced on X, sharing footage of the bar’s partially collapsed ceiling and bricks strewn on the ground.

Doors had been ripped off their hinges, with shards of glass scattered on the road outside, while first responders whisked away a victim on a stretcher.

“We were at home and we felt the explosion, we ran out straightaway… it was absolute chaos, people in the middle trying to move cars,” witness Fernando Sanchez told public broadcaster RTVE from his home.

Fire engines, ambulances and police officers were swarming around the area and the authorities were preventing residents from venturing outside, Sanchez said. Spanish media reported that a gas leak triggered the blast.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2025