A 28-year-old man was killed by falling masonry as he sat at a bar-terrace table in Madrid. His 27-year-old table companion escaped with only a hand injury.

Eight floors above them the marble facing to a balcony had come lose, plunging down onto the table below, hitting one of the group of three on the head, another on his hand and narrowly missing the third.

The man died at Hospital Gregorio Marañón only a few hours later, victim of the severe brain injuries.

The bar owner explained that the three lads had decided to sit at the end table – had they chosen any other then they would only have been scared out out their wits by the nearby impact…

Whilst the City Hall rushed to assure that the building has passed periodic official inspections, the opposition socialist party claimed that the bar below doesn’t even have a opening licence.

The socialist spokesman also found it “incredible” that the building had passed its last municipal inspection with flying colours.

(News: Madrid, Spain)