Several explosions at a battery factory northeast of Madrid released a toxic cloud, Spanish authorities reported on Friday, July 4, 2025.
Nearly 60,000 residents of the towns of Azuqueca de Henares, Cabanillas del Campo, and Alvera received mobile phone alerts asking them to stay indoors, close doors and windows, and turn off their air conditioning.
The Castilla-La Mancha region in central Spain said the alert was triggered by a fire at a battery recycling plant in Azuqueca de Henares, about 50 kilometers from Madrid.
The public broadcaster RTVE reported that the plant recycles lithium batteries. A video circulating on social media shows a huge plume of black smoke rising above the burning factory in an industrial area of Azuqueca de Henares.
No injuries were reported at the factory or in the surrounding area, and the cause of the fire remains unclear.
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