Seven people, one of them a child, are now known to have died last night when a building collapsed at number 21 Calle Rodríguez Arias in Palma de Mallorca.

The cause of the sudden collapse is still not known, although neighbours are blaming the poor condition the building was in. The building had apparently developed large cracks in it, that had worsened with the heavy rain last month.

They say they had reported the massive cracks to the council and that the building had recently been inspected by experts, but representatives of the city council say that they have no record whatsoever of an official complaint about the poor state of repair of the building in question.

A gas leak has already been ruled out as the cause as there was no evidence of a leak and no gas at the site of the fallen building, although some neighbours reported hearing an explosion shortly before the building collapsed.

The seven dead have been confirmed as a German couple in their 60s who lived on the top floor of the building, a 15-year-old girl who lived on the second floor with her parents and her elder sister.  Her father also died in the collapse and her mother is in hospital with serious injuries.  Her sister was not at home at the time as she is away studying in Barcelona.

The first floor was home to a Colombian family which has lost two men in their 30s, who are thought to be brothers-in-law, and the mother of one of them, whose age is yet to be confirmed.

The two people who are in hospital as a result of their injuries are in a serious, but not critical condition.  A man in his 70s, who was in the adjacent building, was also injured.

Today's incident takes the death toll from collapsed buildings to eleven in the past eleven months in Mallorca.  Last December 16th a hotel in Cala Rajada collapsed, killing four workmen.