Two people have been killed and ten injured in a fire in a restaurant in the Spanish capital Madrid. The fire broke out late Friday evening near the only exit of the restaurant and had spread quickly, according to the fire department.

Some of the guests had fled to the back of the restaurant, where they could not escape. Since the nearest station of the fire brigade was only a few meters away, the fire at the Plaza Manuel Becerra was soon extinguished and the trapped could be freed, said a spokesman for the fire brigade. For two people, however, any help had come too late.

An eyewitness told the newspaper "El País" that a waiter had accidentally set fire to plastic flowers while flambéing a dish, with which the ceiling and partly also the walls of the restaurant were decorated. The flames had spread at lightning speed and acrid smoke had even made breathing on the street in front of the restaurant impossible, another witness was quoted as saying.