Fire at Spanish biotechnology centre

A fire at the National Centre for Biotechnology in Madrid could cause damage to hundreds of scientific experiments, the national newspaper El País has reported.

The fire, which started on 14 February was brought under control on the same day, but some laboratories have remained without electricity. The electricity grid has been destroyed and managers of the centre have had to rely on a temporary electrical installation. According to Carmen Castresana, head of the centre, there has been a “significant damage” to ongoing experiments.

According to the national newspaper El Mundo, it took the centre three days to issue a statement on the incident, which it did only after the incident was picked up by the media. Spain’s national research council, the CSIC, said on 17 February that it was investigating the cause of the fire and the damage that has been done.