Thousands confined indoors by toxic chlorine cloud in Spain

Madrid: Spanish authorities told more than 160,000 people near Barcelona to stay indoors on Saturday after a fire at an industrial warehouse released...

Madrid: Spanish authorities told more than 160,000 people near Barcelona to stay indoors on Saturday after a fire at an industrial warehouse released a toxic cloud of chlorine over a wide area.

The blaze, in the coastal city of Vilanova i la Geltru just south of Barcelona, started at dawn on Saturday in a warehouse storing pool cleaning products, the regional fire service said.

"If you are in the zone that is affected do not leave your home or your place of work," the Civil Protection service said on social media.

It advised people to keep doors and windows closed in the at-risk area, which stretched across five local districts along the coast, from Vilanova i la Geltru to the village of Calafell, near Tarragona.