They put out the Sants bonfire more than 12 hours later: "I was there, they were cutting with an angle grinder"

BarcelonaThe large flare-up that had been burning since Wednesday night at the Sants square metro construction site has now been extinguished, more than twelve hours after the explosion that left eight workers injured, two of them seriously. The Barcelona Firefighters have managed to completely cut off the gas flow and have declared the emergency over.

The leak had been detected around 2:40 PM on Wednesday, after a gas pipe was affected during accessibility work at the station. The explosion occurred hours later, shortly before eleven at night. The specific causes of ignition are still being investigated. Now, the drilling machine involved in the incident, which is stuck about a meter into the ground, remains to be removed.

"From the gas point of view, the emergency is currently under control and has ended," explained Albert Ventosa, head of intervention for the Barcelona Firefighters, this midday. Throughout the night, the Firefighters avoided directly extinguishing the flare due to the risk of gas dispersion and limited themselves to cooling the environment while blocking the different points in the network that fed the leak. Once the gas supply was completely cut off this Thursday, the flare extinguished itself.

Now, the removal of the drill rig, which is stuck in the ground and risks falling onto the public road, remains pending. This operation will require a heavy-duty crane, which is expected to arrive between this afternoon and evening. "It was spectacular, but the risk was contained," Ventosa summarized.

For his part, the third deputy mayor of Barcelona City Council, Albert Batlle, assured that "the incident is now resolved" and is confident that normality can be restored in the area between this afternoon and the early evening hours. Passeig de Sant Antoni has already been reopened, while the rest of the road disruptions will remain until the drill rig is removed. Batlle also announced that the causes of the incident and possible responsibilities will be analyzed: "We have to look at the causes and look for the corrective elements." For now, the City Council sees no reason why the works cannot continue.

"They were cutting with an angle grinder"

L'ARA was able to speak this Thursday with Mohamed El Amri, a worker from one of the subcontracted companies for the works, who worked in the area on Wednesday. "I work here and I was there yesterday. They were cutting with an angle grinder. I left around eight in the evening," he explains. Another operator working on the construction site also told L'ARA that work was being done with this tool during the afternoon and points to sparks as a possible explanation for the ignition: "When working, while they were cutting, sparks were flying and, with the gas... surprise." However, this is the worker's interpretation, and the causes of the explosion have yet to be clarified.

The smell of gas was already noticeable during Wednesday afternoon, according to some neighbors. Eduard Barrabés, who lives on Almeria street, remembers that around 4:30 PM "there was a strong smell of gas" and that Olzinelles street was already blocked. "I had to go towards Badal street and I couldn't pass. We thought it would be a one-off thing, that they would fix it and that would be it," he recounts. Barrabés assures that he had not seen the large flame until this Thursday morning. Pedro Luque, also a resident of the neighborhood, found out this morning. "From what I've heard, they've affected an important pipe," he explains. "Now they have to wait for the gas to be shut off. If it's a small pipe, it's over quickly; if it's a big one, it's different."