Police inspector at the scene of the collapsed building in Playa de Palma, Mallorca

Police inspector at the scene on Friday. | Alejandro Sepúlveda

Andrew EdePalma24/05/2024 18:55
TW
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Palma town hall technicians have spent Friday checking on planning information for the restaurant in Playa de Palma where the upper terrace collapsed on Thursday evening, resulting in the deaths of four people.

The town hall says that the building had passed a technical building inspection, that there were slight pathologies that did not compromise the structure but that there had been a warning about the roof. This was later used as a chill-out terrace at the Medusa Beach Club. It was this that collapsed on Thursday and caused further collapse to the ground floor. The inspection's warning was that the roof was "non-trafficable", meaning that it was not designed to be walked on.

Work was carried out at the restaurant over the winter. Requested procedures are being reviewed by the technicians, as the roof - or so it would appear - could not support heavy weights and therefore be used as a terrace.

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The building is owned by a Bernardo G., who rented it out to a well-known businessman in the area. It was then that the work that is now under suspicion would have been carried out.

Óscar Fidalgo, Palma's councillor for urban planning, said on Friday that the town hall was waiting for reports from its technicians as well as from the police and the Palma Fire Brigade. Both National and Palma Police are involved with the investigation.

Fidalgo added: "We will have conclusive results shortly; they will be next week. The rest is conjecture."