Ten days after the floods which devastated the south-east of Spain, searches continue to try to find the missing people. They extended to the beaches and lagoons of the Mediterranean coast, where bodies of victims were carried by the waves.
In Albufera, a freshwater lagoon fifteen kilometers south of Valencia, are undoubtedly some of the victims sought since the torrential rains which poured on the region on October 29, leaving at least 219 dead and dozens of missing.
The water is shallow, a meter or a meter and a half at most. It is also and above all murkier than usual, due to everything that the water has carried away: furniture, cars, piles of reeds… Poor visibility “which complicates our task the most”, explains Álvaro to AFP Carrillo, Spanish navy diver.
Victims found on the beaches
In recent days, several victims have been found on beaches in the area, including one by passers-by, according to Spanish media. The authorities, widely criticized for their lack of information for ten days, have neither confirmed nor denied this information, but a member of an emergency unit involved in the rescue confirmed to AFP, under cover of anonymity, that at least one body had been found in this area.
Cecopi, an emergency committee set up by the authorities to deal with flooding, announced on Thursday that it was using georadar as well as bathymetry, a technique used to map the seabed, as part of the research.
“We have increased the number of boats to strengthen the search and location of possible missing or deceased people on the coast, and the number of diving teams has increased sixfold,” Javier Marcos, head of the diving team, said on Friday. Military Emergency Unit (UME).
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