A GAS explosion in an apartment in Santa Pola (southern Alicante province) left one man dead and caused a fire which destroyed three storeys, emergency services reveal.
The conflagration at number 7 of the C/ Almansa, reported at 18.10 last night (Saturday) was the result of a butane gas bottle blowing up in the apartment where the deceased lived.
Nobody else was inside the three-storey block – which is close to the seafront in the Gran Playa area - at the time, but the entire unit was left a charred wreck.
Four fire engines from nearby Elche and a mobile intensive care unit rushed to the scene, but the sole victim, a 45-year-old man originally from Cuenca, is believed to have died instantly in the blast.
His neighbours rushed to his aid when they heard him shouting for help, even trying to climb into his first-floor flat by standing on parked cars and to kick the door down from the outside, but were beaten back by the flames and smoke.
