A fire at a squatted house in Marbella sparked a major emergency response overnight, it has emerged.
The inferno was first reported on Calle Ramon Areces in Puerto Banus at around 2.10am on Tuesday.
The street is next to the El Corte Ingles shopping centre.
The 112 emergency centre immediately mobilised Marbella’s Local Police, Policia Nacional and municipal firefighters, who rushed to the scene.
According to police, the blaze began on a plot of land containing a semi-derelict house that had been illegally occupied.
Flames also spread through surrounding scrubland, complicating the initial firefighting efforts.
No injuries have been reported, though firefighters spent several hours containing the blaze and securing the area.
Police investigators are now working to determine the exact cause of the fire.
The incident has once again drawn attention to the risks posed by abandoned or squatted properties in urban areas, particularly during dry, late-summer conditions in Andalucia.
Read more Andalucia news at the Spanish Eye.
