A gas explosion blew apart a seven-storey block in Madrid

An 85-year-old woman was among three people killed today as a gas explosion blew apart a seven-storey block in Madrid while a repairman worked on the boiler. Speaking at the scene, Mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida said an 85-year-old woman had died along with a man whose age was not immediately clear, while the third victim was still 'under the rubble'. A fourth person, believed to be the boiler repairman, remains unaccounted for. Firefighters continued to battle the blaze in the building belonging to the Catholic Church after a deadly explosion in Madrid on Wednesday afternoon.

A loud explosion has partially destroyed a small building flanked by a school and a nursing home in the center of Spain's capital, on Toledo street.

'I can confirm the death tally currently stands at three and a fourth person is missing,' Jose Manuel Franco, a central government representative for the Madrid region, confirmed on Wednesday afternoon. 'The man who is missing is a person who had been called in to repair a boiler at the building when the explosion occurred. 'One of the person who died was in the street and the other two appear to have been in the building where the blast occurred,' Franco said. ' According to emergency services, two of the three fatalities included an 85-year-old woman who was walking down the street at the time of the blast, along with another man whose age has not been provided.

'It appears there has been an explosion in the building. 'The building is on fire but firefighters say it's not prudent to enter at the moment. ' Youngsters at a school near the scene of the blast in Calle Toledo, a street leading out from the city centre, were unharmed, although parents experienced moments of panic in the aftermath of the explosion as they went to pick children up on their first day back after devastating Storm Filomena.

Spain's public broadcaster, TVE, initially said the school was thought to have been empty, but the mayor later said that there were people there but they suffered no more than 'scratches. Emergency crews could be seen aiding several people on the ground in video aired by Spain's public broadcaster. Fire fighters work after an explosion in Madrid downtown, Spain January 20. Madrid's Mayor, Jose Luis Rodriguez-Almeida , speaks to the media at Puerta de Toledo in Madrid,January 20.

Emergency personnel and journalists gather at the Puerta de Toledo roundabout after a strong explosion hit a building in Madrid on January 20

'The noise was very loud, very loud, really,' Lorenzo Fomento, a 43-year-old Italian salesman who was working from home at a nearby apartment, told AFP new agency by telephone. 'I never heard something as loud before,' he added.

A police spokeswoman said the area was being evacuated but could not confirm the source of the explosion. Madrid's emergency services said rescue teams, firefighters and police are working in a central area of the Spanish capital following the explosion that witnesses described as 'extremely loud.

Madrid's emergency services said rescue teams, firefighters and police are working in a central area of the Spanish capital following the explosion

Leire Reparaz, who lives near the Puerto de Toledo, a local landmark, told The Associated Press that she heard a loud explosion. We went up the stairs to the top of our building and we could see the structure of the building and lots of grey smoke,' the 24-year-old Madrid resident said.