A fire started by a flambéed pizza has killed two people and injured 12 others at a restaurant in the Spanish capital Madrid.
One of the dead was a restaurant worker and the other a customer, said the city’s mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida. A further 10 people were injured and six are hospitalised with serious injuries.
The mayor said the fire appeared to have been sparked when a waiter flambéed a pizza and the flames caught on plastic flowers decorating the ceiling of the Italian restaurant Burro Canaglia Bar&Resto.
The eatery had around 30 diners and staff members inside at the time.
The waiter “had the plate in flames in one hand and the blowtorch in the other. He passed by a column with plants around it and in a matter of seconds it burned everything”, a diner who gave her name only as Ruth told the El País daily newspaper.
A spokeswoman for Madrid Emergencies explained that the fire started "near the entrance" of the establishment, "which has made it difficult to evacuate the victims", and that the flames spread "at full speed along the walls and ceiling".
Another diner told El Pais that everything turned within a second: "The last thing I saw before leaving was a waiter with the fire extinguisher trying to put out the fire, but he couldn't contain it."
David and Raúl, father and son, were having a family dinner with six other people and the mother is now hospitalized.
David said: "The fire was near the entrance, so those who were near the door have come out, but those who stayed behind tried to protect themselves in the background. My wife among them."#
Emergency services were rapidly on the scene, including 10 ambulances and 12 fire crews, as the nearest fire station is just 300 metres away
The head of the fire service, Carlos Marín, explained that despite the fact that they did not take long to arrive they could not prevent the tragedy due to the voracity of the fire.
He said to local media: “Although we have arrived quickly, the smoke has spread very quickly. We have had to carry out 12 rescues and then we have checked the stairs of the annexe buildings."
