Readers might remember the fire nearly five years ago at the Ron Montero rum factory in Motril – well, it’s at the courts today and tomorrow.

The reason for this is because there was the loss of life of one of its workers, a 45-year-old man, as well as two badly injured, one of whom is the brother of the man that died.

Facing the court was the administrator at the time and the person in charge of the prevention of accidents at work, each of whom faces a prison sentence recommended by the Public Prosecutor of three years and four months if found guilty of gross negligent manslaughter .

The accident occurred on the 2nd of July, 2014 and was caused by an explosion in an alcohol tank with a capacity of 30,000 litres. This provoked an intense fire that took firefighters several hours to put out as they had to wait for the alcohol to burn off.

Two days after the fire Francisco Miguel García died from his burns, whilst his brother, Manuel remained hospitalised for 73 days because of burns to 39% of his body. The other worker, Miguel Lorenzo suffered burns to 60% of his body and required 171 days in hospital.

The Public Prosecutor also recommends a temporal barring from exercising their professions and the payment of compensation to the two victims of 1,125,000 and 600,000 euros to the two burn victims.

Update: Today’s session has been suspended owing to a defence witness, whose testimony Ron Montero considers crucial, not turning up. The trial has been suspended to the 5th and 6th of April

Editorial note: the legal term in Spanish is ‘homicidio por imprudencia profesional grave’ which we have translated as ‘gross negligent manslaughter’ but which could also translate as ‘involuntary homicide.’ In either case, the original Spanish term should be considered the only correct term.