Seven die as building collapses in Majorca

Rescuers searched for survivors yesterday in the rubble of a residential building that collapsed in the Spanish tourist island of Majorca, killing seven people and injuring two.

"Seven people died, four men and three women. Among the victims is a 16-year-old girl," said a spokesman for the city of Palma, where the building was located. Officials earlier said five people had died.

Rescuers searched the rubble of the three-storey structure for more people who are unaccounted for.

The cause of the accident was not known, but witnesses told Spanish media they heard an explosion moments before the building collapsed at around 12.30 a.m.

Local residents said the building - built in 1959 - was in poor shape but city officials said they had received no complaints and had no reason to expect it would collapse.

"I screamed and choked on the dust cloud," Purificacion, a woman in her 50s who saw the building come down, was quoted by the online edition of daily newspaper El Pais as saying.

She was one of about 50 people who the authorities evacuated from six nearby buildings as a safety precaution.

Over 150 police and firefighters took part in the rescue operation.

Authorities in Palma announced an investigation and two days of mourning for victims of the building collapse as well as for two people who died in a fire at a building at another part of the city.