Spain mourns 13 killed in nightclub fire

A fire broke out in a nightclub in Spain's southeastern city of Murcia in the early hours of Sunday, killing at least 13 people in the country's deadliest nightclub fire in decades.

The city council of Murcia first announced the then-ongoing blaze, saying 12 fire engines and 40 firefighters were hard at work to put it out.

Four people were injured in the fire. By Monday, authorities said that all missing peopple had been accounted for.

"It seems that there are no more people missing," the head of the Murcia regional government, Fernando Lopez Miras, told Spanish public television.

Murcia city hall also announced three days of mourning as well as a minute of silence on Monday.

What was behind the fire?
The cause of the blaze is not yet known. Jose Ballesta, the mayor of Murcia, said it broke out at around 6 a.m. (0400 GMT).
A representative of the central government in Murcia, Francisco Jimenez, said that the fire appeared to have spread through the air conditioning vents "which is why it spread so quickly."
Several bodies had been identified, but work was ongoing. "We must be patient with the identification of the bodies... The bodies are very badly burned and it is going to be very difficult for experts to work on them," Jimenez added.
Mayor Ballesta announced at around 10 a.m. Sunday on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that the fire had been extinguished.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on X: "My love and solidarity with the victims and families of the tragic fire that occurred this morning in a nightclub in Murcia." He thanked emergency services for their work too.
Search for survivors ends
"We are devastated," Ballesta said on Spanish TV channel 24h, adding that rescuers at the time were still searching for other victims.

Lopez Miras mirrored Ballesta's sentiments adding, "There is nothing we can say to console relatives and friends of the victims. You are left without words."

Photos shared by the city council and the mayor showed charred bits of a building, believed to have housed the nightclub, with emergency services standing outside, reports DW.