People close to the 48-year-old man who died following a fire at the Casa Lola settlement in Sant Josep say he had allegedly been threatened with death only hours before the blaze.

The claims have emerged as the Guardia Civil continues investigating the circumstances surrounding the man's death and examines whether the fire may have been deliberately started.

Investigators have confirmed that they have not ruled out a criminal cause, but all hypotheses remain open. No suspect has been publicly identified or arrested in connection with the death.

Man died after suffering severe burns

The fire broke out at around 7.10am on Sunday, 27 September, in a makeshift dwelling at the Casa Lola settlement in the Camí des Jondals area of Sant Josep.

The victim, a 48-year-old man of Paraguayan nationality, suffered burns to around 90% of his body.

Emergency medical teams treated him at the scene before transferring him to Can Misses Hospital, where he was admitted to the intensive care unit as a severely burned patient.

He died at around 5pm that afternoon after doctors were unable to overcome the severity of his injuries.

People close to the victim allege he had been threatened

According to people close to the deceased who spoke to Noudiari, events leading up to the fire began the previous afternoon in the area of Avenida Isidor Macabich in Ibiza.

Those sources allege that the man had some kind of relationship with a woman and that another man, allegedly her partner, subsequently threatened him with death.

The same sources claim that the man later carried out the threat by setting fire to the dwelling where the victim was staying.

These accounts have not been independently established and have not been confirmed publicly by the Guardia Civil.

Guardia Civil has not ruled out a criminal cause

The Guardia Civil confirmed on Tuesday, 29 September that its investigation remains open and that all hypotheses are being considered.

The force said there were indications that the fire could have been intentional and that it therefore had not ruled out a criminal line of investigation.

However, investigators have not publicly confirmed that the fire was deliberately started by a particular person, nor have they confirmed that the deceased was killed as a result of a planned attack.

The distinction is important while the investigation remains ongoing.

What is known about the fire

Emergency services received the alert at approximately 7.10am on Sunday after a fire was reported in a wooded area affecting a precarious structure where the man was living.

Two SAMU 061 ambulances were sent to the scene, and the medical team activated the Code for Severe Trauma because of the extent of his injuries.

Firefighters from the Ibiza island fire service also attended the incident with six personnel and two vehicles.

The victim was stabilised at the scene and transported to Can Misses, where he later died.

Investigation into the circumstances continues

The Guardia Civil opened an investigation immediately after the fire to determine how it started and what circumstances surrounded the incident.

The official position remains that all possibilities are open.

The new witness allegations could form part of the information investigators examine, but there is currently no public confirmation that the alleged confrontation in Ibiza, the reported death threats and the subsequent fire are connected.

No conclusion about motive or responsibility can therefore be drawn from the accounts currently available.

Casa Lola has been the focus of wider concerns

The fatal fire has also intensified attention on the conditions at the Casa Lola property.

The site, in the Es Cubells area of Sant Josep, has become an informal settlement containing a number of makeshift structures.

Local authorities and nearby residents have previously raised concerns about waste, fire risks, improvised infrastructure and other conditions at the property.

The municipality has said there could be up to around 200 people living on the site, although that figure has been presented as an estimate rather than a confirmed census.

A separate legal dispute over the property

The Casa Lola property is also at the centre of a separate legal dispute concerning occupation of the land.

The property owner had filed a complaint alleging usurpation and requested a precautionary eviction.

On 30 September, the Juzgado de Instrucción No. 2 of Ibiza ordered the immediate eviction of the occupied property as a precautionary measure and ordered that possession be returned to Inversiones Hoteleras Faro SL.

That court proceeding concerns possession of the property and is separate from the investigation into the man's death.

Eviction order does not establish the cause of the fire

The judicial decision to order the eviction should not be interpreted as establishing who caused the fire or why it happened.

The eviction proceedings were already underway before the fatal incident. The property had filed its complaint and requested the precautionary measure in July.

The court order therefore concerns the occupation of the property rather than determining criminal responsibility for the death.

Witness claims remain unconfirmed

The allegations from people close to the victim add a new line of information to a case that was already being investigated as potentially criminal.

However, at this stage, the confirmed facts are more limited: a man died after a fire at Casa Lola, the Guardia Civil has found indications that the fire may have been intentional, and investigators are keeping all hypotheses open.

The claim that he was threatened hours before the fire, and the allegation that the subsequent blaze was a planned killing, remain witness accounts that have not been publicly confirmed by investigators.

The investigation will now have to establish whether those allegations are supported by evidence and whether the fire was deliberately caused.