Spanish Floods: Death toll rises to 211, woman rescued after three days in car

Emergency forces in Spain were able to rescue a woman trapped inside a car alongside the dead body of her sister-in-law for three days following the deadly flash floods in Spain, where the death toll has now climbed slightly to 211.

Police in the municipality of Moncada shared a video on social media platform X on Saturday showing the president of Valencia’s civil defence, Martín Pérez, delivering the news of the woman’s rescue to employees amid applause.

The woman is said to have been trapped in the vehicle in the municipality of Benetússer, south of the city of Valencia, for three days alongside the body of her sister-in-law, news agency Europapress reported citing the local Las Provincias newspaper.

Rescue workers heard her screaming as they towed away cars stuck in a tunnel.

The woman was taken for a medical examination, but no further details about her state were initially known.

At least 211 people were killed in Tuesday’s storms and floods in Spain’s southern and eastern regions, most of them in the Valencia region, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Saturday after a meeting about the response to the disaster.

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Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said earlier on Saturday that he expected the number to continue rising as rescue teams continued to conduct searches in the hardest-hit areas.

There are fears that many more people will be found dead in cars swept away by the torrential rains that flooded towns and caused rivers to burst their banks earlier this week.

(dpa/NAN)