the French who “know they are missing” called to come forward

Four days after the floods which have already caused more than 200 deaths, MP Stéphane Vojetta called on BFMTV for French nationals who thought they were missing to contact the emergency number, 00 34 900 365 112.

This week's deadly floods in the south-east of Spain have left at least 211 dead and “it is likely” that this toll will be revised upwards, warned the Spanish Minister of the Interior on Friday, November 1 Fernando Grande-Malarska. While emergency services are still looking for potential victims, the deputy for French people established abroad Stéphane Vojetta calls on French nationals who may have been reported missing by their loved ones to come forward.

“If people know they are missing but are safe, they must call the number that has been set up (…) in order to be eliminated from this list,” MP Ensemble explained on BFMTV for the Republic.

These people are invited to call 00 34 900 365 112, the emergency number made available by the community of Valencia to report the disappearance of loved ones in the floods.

“Very complex” communication

Four days after the disaster, the Spanish authorities are, for the moment, careful not to give the exact number of people missing, considered too fluctuating. The task is just as delicate to estimate the possible number of French people among the missing.

“It is very difficult to give a precise figure since we are talking about disaster areas in which telephone or internet communication is very complex,” underlined Stéphane Vojetta.

“We have the contact details of a certain number of French people who live in these areas” and “we write to them, we leave them messages, but the vast majority do not respond to us”.

The MP insists, “those who do not answer us probably do so because they are out of contact”. “That said, it is not impossible that some of the people who do not respond to us and to whom we do not have access are in a situation of danger and could possibly be among the victims,” he adds.