Olga Lucrecia Nieto was one of the 13 people who died in a fire that destroyed two nightclubs in Murcia on October 1, 2023. She was working as a waitress the night of the incident but was not registered with Social Security, according to her family’s lawyer, Rosa Egea. Egea has been trying for months to prove that Nieto had been working at Fonda Milagros (the club where the 13 deaths occurred) despite not being officially hired. Finally, the labor inspection ruled in her favor, as reported outside the courts in Murcia, where several hearings have taken place as part of the investigation into the case. Nieto, born in Ecuador, was 56 years old when she died and was well-known among the Hispanic community in Murcia, where she also worked in another entertainment venue. She was the partner of a popular radio host at Supermix FM Murcia, Ferney Lozano, who was also at Fonda Milagros the night of the fire but managed to escape. The lawyer confirmed that both Nieto and her partner were working without proper registration and that the labor inspection has imposed a penalty on the club owners, increasing the economic benefits that Nieto’s family will receive if her death is considered a work-related accident.
The nightclub owners have maintained that Nieto was not an employee of the club but a frequent customer who occasionally “helped out” as a favor to friends and owners, according to their lawyer, Francisco Javier Verdú. However, the labor inspection’s clear stance may result in additional penalties for the club owners, who are being investigated for 13 alleged counts of negligent homicide. Nieto’s family will now seek to add a charge of violation of workers’ rights. At the instruction court in Murcia, two National Police officers who participated in the investigation after the fire testified as expert witnesses, stating that the safety, prevention, and emergency plans of the burned nightclubs were inadequate. It was revealed that the fire started in the Teatre nightclub due to mishandling of a cold fire machine, and attention was drawn to the wall that separated the two nightclubs, which lacked proper emergency exits. The architect responsible for dividing the industrial warehouse where the nightclubs were located will testify as a witness.
Another lawyer representing two of the deceased individuals in the fire, José Manuel Muñoz Ortín, revealed that the police mentioned the lack of emergency exits at Fonda Milagros, with only one door leading to the street and the other exits blocked by the separating wall, which was locked. The Head of the Fire Extinguishing Service of the Municipality of Murcia detailed the firefighters’ response to the incident. The first team arrived at the scene four minutes after receiving the alert, but the fire was already intense, with smoke at ground level and temperatures exceeding 500 degrees, preventing them from entering the building to search for victims. The issue of locked emergency exits and potential failures in the emergency systems was raised, but the official deferred comment as it was not within their jurisdiction. The investigations are ongoing, with more witnesses scheduled to testify in the coming days, shedding light on the events that led to the tragic loss of 13 lives in the nightclub fire.
