CRUSHED TO DEATH UNDER THE RUBBLE

PALMA
THIS week's torrential rains are thought to have been the reason why part of the nine-storey Hotel Son Moll in Cala Ratjada collapsed early yesterday morning killing four construction workers.

The two Moroccans, aged 23 and 50, and two Spanish builders, 28 and 37, were trapped under the rubble of the property's three-storey annex when the building gave way just after 8.45am.

A total of 80 workers were on the site at the time of the accident but most were either having breakfast or in the main tower block and managed to get clear of the collapsing building which was one of the first hotels to have been built on the East coast of Majorca in the late 1950s. Some suffered minor injuries and were either treated at the scene or taken to Manacor Hospital.

Fire fighters, police and paramedics reached the scene within minutes and the complicated task of trying to locate and save the four men trapped under the rubble began in the wet conditions as shocked colleagues watched the rescue operation unravel.