800 tourists evacuated from Santa Ponsa hotel for fire

Fire forced the evacuation of another Majorcan hotel on Monday night, the same day the hotel and others across Majorca, apparently carried out a series of fire drills. 800 tourists, many of whom were British and of all ages, were evacuated from the Hotel Rey Don Jaime in Santa Ponsa, shortly after 11pm on Monday night when the alarm was raised. According to the Majorcan fire brigade and the Calvia Local Police, the fire started in a laundry room and is thought to have been caused by a short circuit. Five local police units with support from the Guardia Civil were deployed to the scene and firemen from Calvia and Andratx battled the blaze. All of the hotel's guests, many of whom were in their rooms, were evacuated out onto the street while the area was closed off to traffic, not only ensuring maximum safety for hotel guests, but also so firemen could secure the area and carry out a revision of the building. None of the guests were injured during the evacuation, which was carried out in an orderly fashion, and hotel staff provided chairs and blankets for the young and elderly, many of whom had been asleep. The hotel also served snacks and drinks while firemen and police dealt with the emergency. Most of the guests were allowed to return to their rooms nearly two-and-a-half hours later, around 1.30 am, but firemen remained at the scene until 4am. The 800 hotel guests were guided to their rooms in a carefully co-ordinated manner with clients being allowed to return floor by floor.