The Investigative Court of Murcia has opened proceedings for 13 crimes of reckless homicide following the fire in the Atalayas nightlife area last weekend, in order to clarify the facts and consider criminal responsibilities.
Currently, the court is waiting for the identification work to be completed, including completion of the autopsies by the forensic doctors of the Institute of Legal Medicine of the Region of Murcia. The investigation will continue under summary secrecy.
Where autopsies have been completed the remains have already been repatriated to their families. The first to be so were those who resided in Caravaca de la Cruz, collected by four vehicles from the Salzillo Funeral Home.
According to sources from the Murcia City Council, three of the deceased will be buried in Caravaca, two others in the Murcia municipality and one will be buried in Molina de Segura.
In the case of the remaining seven, they will be repatriated to their countries of origin, five to Nicaragua and the other two will go to Colombia and Ecuador.
Following the tragic deaths of 13 people at the Teatro Nightclub on Saturday, the Murcia City Council has ordered the sealing of five nightlife venues with orders to cease activity. One of them, the Spectrum nightclub, was closed because its license was not valid.
A representative of one of the clubs, Juan Pedro López, of the Spectrum, said that this has been a dance hall for 25 years and that the only pending procedure they had was the change of ownership. “We had a name change but to do this you have to make a new request from scratch, even if it says the same activity,” he indicated. López added that the organisation that now runs the venue is a cultural association, HMC Espectros, of which he is a part.
“Apparently there has been a change of political view from the City Council. They have wanted to change the law and now they are closing all similar establishments,” criticised López, who pointed out that they were notified of the closure just 45 minutes in advance.
