A loud noise woke up most of the residents of Calle Portugal in Sant Antoni at around five o'clock on Saturday morning. The reason: a gas leak that had been going on for over an hour.
Uncertain and curious to see what was happening at the end of the street, residents peered out, some even able to see it from the entrance to their homes. One resident said that a car had grazed a wall, causing a loud noise that continued until the leak was fixed.
At around 5.30am, the local police arrived at the street. Torches in hand and a car at each entrance, the officers began to examine the perimeter. Some people were getting into their cars to go to work at that time and noticed the strong smell in the area.
A quarter of an hour later, the fire brigade and a tow truck arrived to get to work. The truck stopped near the area and the firemen began to work to find the exact location of the leak. Some looked, others laid out the hose... a constant movement under the tired and astonished gaze of the neighbours, some of whom left the area so as not to be affected.
‘This is the front,’ the crane operator told one of the firefighters as he handed him the bases to move the cars blocking the gas leak. At that moment, around six o'clock, the gas company operator arrived to also assist in this action.
It was not until 6:15 a.m. that, fortunately for the residents, the noise ceased and the leak, which had been active for over an hour, was stopped. Little by little, as the workers packed up, the residents returned to their homes to try to get back to sleep, while others took advantage of the early start to have their first coffee of the day in one of the bars on Doctor Fleming Avenue.