The 56-year-old British woman was passing by the bar when it exploded
A British woman has died following a gas explosion at a bar in Spain, according to reports. The 56-year-old was among two fatalities after a gas canister exploded at Casa Javi bar in San Pedro del Pinatar, Murcia, last Thursday (June 19).
The British victim, who is said to have lived locally, was passing by the weekly market when she was hit by the explosion. The local council confirmed their deaths in a statement on X.
The other person who died was the 38-year-old owner of the bar, a Moroccan-born woman named Hind, who sustained critical burn injuries, according to the Mirror. Following the blast, which also left at least 15 others wounded, both victims were hospitalised for a week.
Emergency services, including local police, ambulances, and fire brigades, were dispatched to the site immediately after receiving calls for help, reports the M.E.N.
A police source told newspaper El Espanol that the British woman died from head injuries. “She received a head wound from the blast while going by the weekly market,” they said.
The local council shared on X: “From the San Pedro del Pinatar local council, we want to express our most sincere condolences over the deaths of two people who were seriously injured in an explosion in Lo Pagan on June 19.”
The bar was shut at the time, but the blast resulted in significant damage to both the building and nearby market stalls. The weekly street market was taking place right next to the bar, and so there were more people than there would normally be in the area at the time of the blast.
Photographs from the site show Casa Javi’s canopy torn apart, with debris strewn across the bustling market street in the centre of Lo Pagan. The powerful explosion damaged market stalls and several other businesses.
A week after the incident, detectives are still investigating the cause, with no definitive conclusions reached yet. A Judicial Police inspection discovered that a butane gas cylinder’s seal had been ‘sabotaged’, triggering the explosion.