Madrid apartment block collapses after being evacuated

A four-storey apartment building collapsed in Madrid on Monday just hours after firefighters evacuated all of its occupants, some of them clambering through windows. Residents heard creaking at 4 am (0200 GMT) and spotted "huge" cracks in the walls of the building in Carabanchel, a working class district in the south of the Spanish capital, city hall said in a statement. Firefighters evacuated the 36 occupants of the 1960s building as well as 21 people in an adjacent apartment block as a precaution. No one was injured in the collapse. "Some residents were evacuated through the front door while others who were not able to leave their flats because their doors were unhinged were evacuated using ladders through their windows," the statement said. Officials suspect the poor state of supporting pillars on the ground floor may be to blame and Madrid city hall has launched an investigation.