News
The people’s paper ISSUE NO. 1835
3 - 9 September 2020
COSTA DEL SOL • WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM
FREE • GRATIS
PARADISE LOST
FIRE suddenly struck in the El Padron area of Estepona on the afternoon of Saturday August 29 for the second time in less than a year. As flames shot across the N340, drivers were horrified to see the popular Laguna Village complex go up in flames, which quickly spread along the entire building due to wood supports and a number of high thatched roofs which were dry and literally caught fire in minutes. Videos quickly appeared on social media, showing what suddenly
All that is left of the popular shopping centre.
Credit: Estepona Council
turned into an inferno and whilst staff at the various restaurants tried to tackle the blaze, it was too intense and the en-
tire area had to be evacuated which meant the large number of guests had to move their cars to avoid them exploding.
There was some panic, but generally people were sensible in letting each other move off the complex, but there was
some delay in emergency services arriving as they had initially set up on the opposite side of the road and were trying to put out fires there as well as protect the vulnerable BP petrol station and evacuate some 30 properties. In the event, the conflagration was too great
to allow them to save the complex, although firefighters from Estepona and surrounding towns did manage to contain the fire so that it didn’t spread further, although there was some minor damage to the luxurious Kempinski Hotel next door.
Turn to page 2 »