BarcelonaPalamós has an unsolved mystery since Sant Esteve. The local police of this Baix Empordà municipality have been investigating since then whether the fire at the emblematic Cala Estreta fishermen’s hut, where Francesc Cots has lived for more than fifteen years, was caused. For reasons that are still unknown, the fire started on December 26 while Cots was outside the hut to go see his family.
As a result of the fire, the entire interior of the hut was burnt. Palamós City Council – which owns the shack – has filed a complaint to investigate who caused the fire. While waiting for how the investigation progresses, municipal sources suspect that it could be a “brutal attack with bad intentions”. On one of the walls of the shack was graffiti that read “Fora ocupes”, although it is not known whether it is from the same day as the 26th or if it was done before the fire.
Municipal sources explain that the technical services of the City Council are now assessing the condition of the interior of the hut and whether it is necessary to “close it temporarily because there is some type of risk”. The main doubt lies around the state of the roof, which has a Catalan vault and which now needs to be checked to see if it has suffered any kind of damage that could result in some detachment.
The closure of the hut would mean the end, at least temporarily, of Francesc Cots’ stay in this little house. At the age of 62, Cots – popularly known as Quico – had been living in this shack for fifteen years without water or electricity. No money either. As the ARA explained in this report, he lived off what people who passed by the cove gave him.
