A Sants construction worker: "I was there, they were cutting with an angle grinder"

BarcelonaA large flare continued to burn on Thursday morning following a deflagration caused by a gas leak at the Plaça de Sants metro construction site in Barcelona. The accident, which left eight people injured, two of them seriously, occurred shortly before eleven o'clock on Wednesday night. The leak, however, had been detected hours earlier, around 2:40 p.m., after a gas pipeline was affected during the work.

L'ARA was able to speak on Thursday with Mohamed El Amri, a worker for one of the subcontracted companies on the construction site, who worked in the area on Wednesday. "I work here and I was here yesterday. They were cutting with an angle grinder. I left around eight in the evening," he explains. Another operator working on the 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," he said. This is, however, the worker's interpretation: the specific causes of the deflagration are still under investigation. "Now we have to wait for them to come and see who can cut this," the operator added this morning, while the flare continued to burn.

On Wednesday, the smell of gas was already perceptible during the afternoon, according to some residents. Eduard Barrabés, who lives on Almeria street, recalls that around 4:30 p.m. "there was a strong smell of gas" and that Olzinelles street was already closed. "I had to go towards Badal street and I couldn't get through. We thought it would be a one-off thing, that they would fix it and that would be it," he explains. In any case, he assures that he did not see the large flare until Thursday.

Pedro Luque, also a resident of the neighborhood, also found out this morning. "From what I've heard, they've affected an important pipe," he explains. "Now they have to wait until the gas can be cut off. If it's a small pipe, it's over quickly; if it's a big one, it's different." This Thursday, emergency teams continue to work to cut off the gas flow, while the large flare remains visible in Plaça de Sants. The Firefighters have explained that it is a complex operation because action must be taken at different points in the distribution network.