Concrete slabs fall from Marbella apartment block onto pavement in broad daylight

Parts of the facade of a residential building in central Marbella came crashing down onto the pavement at around 1.45pm on Thursday 8 October, but nobody was injured, according to Diario Sur.

The incident took place on Calle Ortega y Gasset, at the building known as Atrium, which is entered from Calle Pablo Casals. Despite the dramatic scene and the amount of rubble left on the public road, nobody was walking past at the time.

What happened

The block has terraces and continuous balconies built from cantilevered concrete slabs that project out from the main facade. On the fifth floor, several of these slabs came loose. Marbella Town Hall sources told the newspaper this was “presumably” because the anchors had been removed during building work.

As they fell, the slabs partly broke the cladding at second-floor level and then hit the first-floor overhang with considerable force. That lower structure juts out well beyond the upper floors towards the street and took the impact, suffering serious damage. Part of its own covering was dragged down, and the commercial ground-floor area was affected. A restaurant there is currently closed.

Emergency response

Marbella Fire Brigade and police officers arrived quickly and cordoned off the area to protect passers-by. Firefighters worked to make the facade safe, removing unstable elements.

They also fitted tensioning devices to secure the structure “provisionally” and prevent further falls, municipal sources said.

Source: www.diariosur.es