A rock falls on a house in the Castle and kills a 65-year-old man

A man in his mid-60s died and a woman was injured after a large rock fell onto a house in the Cala Sant Esteve residential area, in the municipality of El Castell (Menorca) early Tuesday morning, according to sources from the SAMU 061 emergency services. At 5:27 a.m., a rockfall occurred at a house located at number 54 in the aforementioned residential area, 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 in his mid-60s, 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.

Firefighters in Menorca have been working since early morning to clear and remove debris that threatens to fall on more homes on the cliff at Cala Sant Esteve (Es Castell). Fire Chief Juan José Franch stated that the priority now is to prevent further rockfalls that could also affect neighboring homes, which have been evacuated as a precaution. Later, the debris from the damaged house will be cleared to recover the body of the deceased victim, which still lies beneath a rock "larger than a car" that crashed down onto the ground floor of the building after tumbling from the terrace through the two upper floors. "The movement of the rock caused a tremor that reverberated throughout the area," explained Franch, who initially attributed the rockfall to recent rains and uncontrolled vegetation growth. The fire chief has also acknowledged that the lack of maintenance of the cliff, attributable to the owners and management, may have contributed to the accident.