UPDATE 4-At least two dead after blast brings down building in central Madrid
20 Jan 2021 / 23:19 H.
(Adds two dead)
By Nathan Allen and Michael Gore
MADRID, Jan 20 (Reuters) - At least two people died and several were injured when a building in a central Madrid belonging to the Catholic Church collapsed on Wednesday after an explosion, Mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida told reporters.
Initial investigations suggested that the blast in Calle de Toledo, a street leading out from the city centre, had been caused by a gas leak, he said.
Smoke billowed out of the collapsed building and rescue workers evacuated elderly people from a nearby nursing home.
A Church official said one church volunteer was missing.
The building was a complex that provided residential training for priests and also gave meals to homeless people, a neighbour said.
(Reporting by Nathan Allen, Inti Landauro, Belen Carreno, Jesus Aguado, Emma Pinedo, Andrei Khalip; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
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