The incident took place Thursday in Palma de Mallorca, the island’s capital, when the first-floor terrace, which had recently been renovated, collapsed onto the ground floor, which in turn caved in, crushing customers at a music bar located in the basement.

Two German tourists died along with a 23-year-old Spanish woman and a 44-year-old from Senegal who lived on Mallorca in Spain’s Mediterranean Balearic Isles.

“The basement had a licence to operate as a music bar, the ground floor had a restaurant licence but the first floor wasn’t licenced for any activity, nor authorised to use the terrace,” Jaime Martínez Llabres, mayor of the island’s capital Palma told reporters.

Palma’s mayor also pointed out that the preliminary conclusion of an investigation by the city’s fire department and national police is that the terrace collapsed due to a “combination” of the excessive weight resulting from renovation works carried out illegally and the overload of 21 customers who were on the first floor when it collapsed.

Chief of Palma Fire Department Eder García told journalists that the tables on the terrace were normally distributed evenly but precisely that day several were put together because there was a group of 12 Dutch customers, causing the floor to cave in.

In 2013, Palma City Hall inspectors opened several sanctioning proceedings against the premises and in 2023 Medusa Beach Club did not pass the Technical Building Inspection (ITE), so the property should have carried out the improvements proposed by municipal technicians before opening up customers again.

“There shouldn’t have been any activity on the terrace,” the fire department chief concluded.

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