Second body recovered from rubble of collapsed holiday island flats

A second body has been pulled from the rubble of a four-storey building that collapsed on the Canary Island holiday resort of Tenerife. The woman was recovered by emergency workers toiling throughout the night following the collapse. Nine of 28 people thought to be in the building, located on Los Cristianos one of the island’s most popular beaches, are still missing.

I was late by about five minutes to open the shop. Those five minutes saved my life.

Florist Anima Merrero, 73, escaped the disaster because she was running late

The cause of the collapse, which happened early on Thursday morning, is not yet known. Witnesses reported hearing an explosion followed by the smell of gas before the building came down “like a pack of cards”. Three people, including a 28-year-old Italian man with a broken arm, were rescued from the rubble. The body of an elderly woman was also recovered yesterday. Four buildings located next to the collapsed block have been evacuated.

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