SPAIN: RESCUERS CONTINUE SEARCH FOR THE BODIES OF HOLIDAYMAKERS CARRIED AWAY BY MUDSLIDE

Record ID: 639766

  • Title: SPAIN: RESCUERS CONTINUE SEARCH FOR THE BODIES OF HOLIDAYMAKERS CARRIED AWAY BY MUDSLIDE
  • Date: 9th August 1996
  • Summary: JACA AND SABINANIGO, SPAIN (AUGUST 9, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) JACA 1. SLV/SV EXTERIOR OF ICERINK USED AS A MORGUE TO IDENTIFY VICTIMS (2 SHOTS) 0.12 2. SV AMBULANCES ARRIVING AT MORGUE 0.23 3. SV RELATIVES WATING 0.25 4. SLV RESCUE WORKERS CARRYING BODIES ON STRETCHERS INSIDE THE MORGUE 0.43 5. SV FAMILY ARRIVING TO IDENTIFY BODIES 0.50 6. MCU ELISA CUADROS, A SURVIVOR WHO LOST HER HUSBAND AND IS LOOKING FOR HER MISSING 3-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER SAYING SHE WAS IN THE CAMP WITH HER HUSBAND AND DAUGHTER, SHE SAYS SHE KNOWS HER HUSBAND IS DEAD, BUT CANNOT FIND HER DAUGHTER WHO IS NOT IN THE HOSPITAL OR THE SANITORIUM (SPANISH) 1.10 7. CU OF PHOTOGRAPH OF DAUGHTER 1.12 8. SV COFFINS LEAVING, FAMILIES CRYING 1.19 SABINANIGO, 15KM (10 MILES) DOWNSTREAM FROM BIESCAS CAMPSITE 9. LV OF DAM WHERE BELIEVED MISSING BODIES ARE 1.22 10. SLV/CU DIVERS ON BOAT (3 SHOTS) 1.40 11. SV POWER SHOVEL REMOVING MUD 1.48 12. SLV DIVERS ON BOAT 1.55 13. CU POWER SHOVEL REMOVING MUD 2.16 14. SLV DIVERS RESTING 2.21 15. MCU DIVER LUIS ZAPATA SAYING THE BODIES WERE ON THE BANK, WE ARE CLEANING THE SURFACE OF THE WATER TO REMOVE OBJECTS SO THAT WE CAN SEARCH UNDERNEATH THE WATER, AND THERE IS A LOT OF DEBRIS AND BRANCHES AND THAT MAKES IT DIFFICULT TO WORK (SPANISH) 2.52 16. SLV AMBULANCE PULLING IN 3.05 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 24th August 1996 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JACA AND SABINANIGO, 15 KM (10 MILES) DOWNSTREAM FROM BIESCAS, SPAIN
  • City:
  • Country: Spain
  • Reuters ID: LVA4ZFQ9LLK8QTJAZ4BX9SSO4PRI
  • Story Text: INTRO: Legions of rescuers have been continuing their dogged and sometimes disorganised search for the bodies of holidaymakers carried away when a torrent of mud and rocks swept through a crowded Spanish campsite.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------- The mudslide, triggered by heavy rains on Wednesday night, killed at least 76 people and injured scores more.

    On Friday (August 9), 500 rescue workers continued to comb through the sludge and car wrecks for an unspecified number of missing campers and it was feared the death toll could reach more than 100.

    Some relatives were already taking bodies back to their hometowns for burial and 35 were transferred from the identification centre in a Biescas warehouse to an ice-skating rink in nearby Jaca to prevent them from deteriorating.

    In Jaca, relatives of victims waited outside the ice rink for news of loved ones, as two more dead bodies were brought in.

    One woman, Elisa Cuadros, said she had seen her husband and three-year old daughter ripped away by the floods. Clutching a photograph of her daugher, she said her husband was definitely dead, but she had not yet found her daughter, either in the hospital or in the sanatorium in Jaca.

    A glimmer of hope shone through on Thursday when a baby was found alive in the arms of its dead mother at the site of the "Virgen de las Nieves" (Virgin of the Snows) campsite in the Pyrenees near the French border.

    But hopes of finding other survivors faded on Friday. The lifeless bodies of an elderly woman and a child were pulled from the accumulated debris in the morning.

    Officials identified a Dutch family of four and a 10-year-old French girl as being among the victims, the majority of which were Spanish. Tourists from Germany and Belgium were also feared to be among the dead.

    The campsite outside the town of Biescas, 130 km (90 miles) east of Pamplona, was filled to capacity when freak rains hit.

    It was engulfed in seconds when flash floods turned into an avalanche of mud and rocks, sweeping cars and trailers up to one km (1,000 yards) away and carrying some of the bodies up to 15 km (10 miles) downstream.

    By Friday morning, 57 victims had been identified. Police said it was especially complicated identifying foreigners because most lacked identity documents and many of the bodies were severely injured.

    Dozens of injured remained in hospitals in nearby Jaca and Huesca, some in serious condition. Hospital workers said their numbers were swelled by those of distraught relatives of victims suffering from nervous breakdowns.

    The Red Cross and paramilitary Civil Guard narrowed their search on the river Gallego and a dam 15 km (10 miles) from the campsite where they believe some of the bodies are trapped.

    Cranes were used at the dam at Sabinanigo to lift debris from the river. Diver Luis Zapata said three bodies had been found on Friday on the river bank but they were working to remove the debris from the surface of the river to make it safe to dive below and search for more bodies.


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