It appears that somebody deliberately put the lives of 150 block residents at risk when they decided to torch the underground car park. Although the flames did not reach the apartments above, the thick toxic smoke did, forcing their evacuation.

The Guardia Civil investigators found ‘accelerants;’ i.e., inflammable liquid, had been used on at least eight of the parked cars. The Guardia Civil’s next task is to find out who did it and why.

In the meantime, the Mayor of Almuñécar, Trinidad Herrera, has had a meeting with the affected residents of Edificio Álvarez, on Calle Pablo Iglesias in which she informed most of them that they could now move back into their homes and begin to get things back to normal.

At the same time the Councillor for Social Welfare assured families whose homes are still not ready for occupation that the Town Hall would continue to attend to their needs. It should be remembered the 30 residents have been accommodated at Hotel Carmen, 20 in the municipal hotel, El Palacete del Corregidor and a further seven at a municipally owned apartment – others have been staying with family or friends.

The affected areas on the outside of the building, which was built in 1974, have been repainted.

(News: Almuñécar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)