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Two dead after scaffolding collapses from 13th floor of Benidorm tower
A third worker was left dangling from the 11th floor before tourists in a neighbouring apartment helped him get inside to safety
Two workers have been killed after scaffolding collapsed from the 13th floor of a high-rise building on Calle Ibiza in Benidorm on Wednesday morning, April 22. The victims, aged 26 and 45, were confirmed dead by the Emergency Information and Coordination Centre.
The younger man was from Aspe in Alicante and his colleague was from Santomera in Murcia. A third worker involved in the incident escaped without injury and was later seen to by municipal psychologists and the Red Cross.
The alarm was raised at 10:48am, according to Jesús Carrobles, the local councillor for citizen security, who remained at the scene throughout the morning. A major emergency response followed, with ambulances, local police, national police and firefighters from the Provincial Fire Consortium all attending. Initially, one death and one critically injured person were reported, but a second fatality was confirmed shortly afterwards.
The workers had been carrying out a facade renovation on the 18-storey Principado Europa building, a project that had reportedly been under way for around a year and a half and was close to completion.
According to police sources, each of the two men who died was employed by a different company. One had been working on the facade itself, while the other was in the process of dismantling the scaffolding structure that ultimately gave way.
A businesswoman whose shop sits next to the building described the moment it happened. She said she heard a massive impact followed by what she called heart-wrenching screams, and that when she went outside she found everything covered in a cloud of dust with the scaffolding destroyed below. She described the scene as horrible. She also spoke warmly about the workers themselves, saying they were friendly with local residents and could often be heard singing as they went about their work. She added that they always arrived on site properly equipped with harnesses and helmets.
A local resident who also witnessed the collapse described it as a spectacular crash of metal and tiles accompanied by screams, and said he saw one of the workers caught on a railing trying to get to safety.
That third worker had been left hanging at the level of the 11th floor when the scaffolding fell, but found himself unable to get inside because the window nearest to him was closed. A neighbour managed to alert tourists who had arrived the previous night in the adjacent apartment, and they were able to open the window and help the worker get inside to safety.
Councillor Carrobles confirmed that residents on the affected floors were evacuated after emergency services arrived and said he had offered his condolences to the families of the two men who died. As for what caused the collapse, he said the investigation is still at an early stage, explaining that unfortunately these kinds of accidents can never be predicted.
Images: Consorcio Provincial Bomberos Alicante
