Palma City Hall appears as private prosecutor in the trial opened before the Court of Instruction number 9 of Palma against the owners of the terrace of the Medusa Club bar-restaurant in Playa de Palma, whose collapse last spring caused four deaths and 16 injured. .
This was accepted today by the Government Council after municipal technical reports concluded that the collapsed terrace was illegal because, among other issues, it did not have an activity permit or construction permit. occupation or entertainment.
This was announced today at a press conference by the spokesperson for the PP Minority Municipal Government, Mercedes Celestewho recalled that the urban discipline zone had several files open since 2013 and that the collapsed roof in question had various unfavorable reports and did not have an activity authorization.
More precisely, the terrace of Medusa Beach Club Restaurant-Bar in Playa de Palma which sank on Thursday May 23, causing 4 deaths and 14 injuries, did not have a municipal activity permit to be able to accommodate customers, so the use of this area of the collapsed building was illegal.
Only the basement of the property, where there was a music bar, and the ground floor, used as a restaurant, had the required licenses, but not the terrace.
The conclusion of the investigation carried out by the Palma firefighters, collected in a report sent to the National Police, was that the illegal terrace collapsed due to the overweight suit derived from the work carried out irregularly in this space and the overload of 21 customers who were on the first floor when it collapsed.
To this we must add that on the terrace the tables were normally evenly distributed, but on this day several were gathered together because there was a group of 12 Dutch people, to which we must add two waiters who served them.
If the terrace had been legalizable, There could hardly have been a collapse which would have affected a vault three or four meters later which would also have given way, and it was in the basement of the restaurant area that other victims were found.
The since-closed Playa de Palma leisure area was illegally renovated in 2013, but the terrace was not renovated. The only thing the owners did was to pour a layer of leveling mortar about five centimeters thick and cover it with tiles. It could not be used for any activity.
Already in 2013, Town Hall inspectors opened several sanction files against the premises and in 2023, it did not pass the Technical Building Inspection (ITE), the property should therefore have carried out the improvements proposed by municipal technicians.
Last winter some work was also carried out, although it was a simple facelift where the furniture and cutlery of the premises were changed, as well as the paint.
The municipal spokesperson, Mercedes Celeste, recalled that the City Hall had made all this information available to the Prosecutor’s Office, and initially declared that, if necessary, they would appear in future legal proceedings, a decision approved this Wednesday at the Government Council and which will soon be in force
