A plaster wall was the only thing separating the two nightclubs in Murcia that caught fire on October 1, 2023. On one side, everyone survived. On the other, 13 people were trapped and died. The same plaster wall follows the reader throughout the visual narrative, appearing on either side of the text.

The story begins with videos from the night of the incident. Around 6 o’clock in the morning, a small flame fell onto the shoulder of one of the nightclub’s security guards.

When he looked up, he saw a small fire inside one of the speakers. Panic began to spread — but by then, without anyone realising, flames were already spreading above the heads of those dancing to the DJs’ music inside Teatre nightclub.

Within minutes, smoke crossed through that plaster wall — soon to be completely destroyed — and began to engulf the only exit of the adjoining venue, Fonda Milagros.

With reporting by journalists Alicia Negre and Raúl Hernández (La Verdad, Murcia), and visual storytelling by Sara I. Belled (Agencia Colpisa, Madrid), this investigative piece is based on police reports, floor plans, before-and-after images, witness testimonies, and emergency calls made that same night.

It also includes videos collected from social media in the early hours of the incident, some of which were used by authorities in their investigation.

Inside a tragedy

The narrative aims to answer two key questions: how it happened and why. It guides the reader step by step — like an investigator — tracing the path the fire took, from its origin to its spread. On both sides of the wall.

The plaster wall serves as a structural element of the narrative. It is not a visual resource but part of the account of the facts verified by police authorities, which form the core of the investigation.

The piece is designed for a smooth, immersive scroll experience. This was a fundamental part of the narrative approach: nothing is hidden, and every element is structured to keep the reader scrolling. The scrollytelling tool is key, alongside the design and placement of infographics, which are read as a continuation of the text, while also holding their own.

New tools

It also marked the debut of a new reusable storytelling tool: automated audio, which was developed in collaboration with layout and development team members Belén Almendros and Raúl Rivas.

Most of the narrative tools used in the piece — such as the scrollytelling framework or ai2html — are part of the team’s daily workflow. But in this case, we also had access to original emergency call recordings: long clips — over a minute each — which were essential to understanding what happened inside the nightclubs.

The challenge was clear: How do we deliver such long and emotionally intense audio content to readers in a way that feels accessible and engaging?

The solution was to make it simple: The reader reaches an audio container that displays only a few lines of text over a blurred background. They can scroll and read, or press “play” and listen as the text automatically syncs with the audio.

This piece was published through Agencia Colpisa for all regional newspapers of Vocento. It was released on the first anniversary of the fire, just as the remains of the burned-down nightclubs were beginning to be demolished, and achieved a 

Thousands read the report, and the average time spent on the page was very high — close to seven minutes — indicating that readers remained engaged until the end of the visual narrative.

With this information, we shed light on and explained certain details that had not been presented in this way before.

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