Ramon Saura is 72 years old and has lived his entire life in La Cala, as the residents of Castell call the seven-meter-wide inlet between Fort Marlborough and Sant Felip Castle. Twenty meters from his house, below the cliff, a 20-ton rock broke loose two weeks ago, burying the Serra family home. It crashed through the two upper floors and literally buried the 66-year-old man, who was sleeping in the bedroom below. His 62-year-old wife escaped with her life by mere centimeters. Authorities immediately evacuated the families living in the eight surrounding buildings as a precaution; new construction would now be prohibited. Two weeks later, none of them, not even Ramon, have been able to return home.

The mayor of Castell, Lluís Camps, has ordered the mandatory evacuation of all homes in the villages of Cala Sant Esteve and El Fonduco due to the confirmed risk of a cliff collapse, the City Council announced on Saturday. Local police have personally informed each affected resident and have cordoned off and erected a barrier to prevent vehicle and pedestrian access to the at-risk areas.

The operation to lift the 20-ton rock beneath which the man was trapped after a rockfall early Tuesday morning in Cala Sant Esteve, El Castell, Menorca, concluded this evening with the recovery of his body. In addition to the man, who was approximately 65 years old, a woman was injured when the large rock fell, according to sources from the SAMU 061 emergency service. The rockfall caused a boulder to fall onto the building, trapping two people inside. SAMU 061 personnel, firefighters, and the Civil Guard were dispatched to the scene. Upon arrival, paramedics located the people trapped under the rock. One of the victims, a man of approximately 65 years of age, died at the scene. The other victim, a woman in her sixties, was rescued in serious condition and taken to Mateu Orfila Hospital after the activation of the severe polytrauma protocol. Firefighters are carrying out maintenance work to prevent further landslides.

The Menorca Fire Chief, Juanjo Franch, attributed the rockfall that killed a man on Tuesday to the rain and dense vegetation. Emergency services, Franch explained, carried out safety work on the structure of the three-story building and are removing debris that fell onto the roof. The mayor of Castell, Lluís Camps, detailed that the affected couple lived on the ground floor, while some of their children and their families lived on the first and second floors. All of them were evacuated because, according to the Fire Chief, drone footage detected cracks in the cliff face that could cause further rockfalls. For this reason, residents of neighboring houses were also evacuated, and work will continue to secure the cliff face and remove the existing vegetation.

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