FAST DOWNLOAD
A missing British couple have been found dead in their car days after flash flooding hit Spain, their family have confirmed to the BBC.
Don Turner, 78, and his wife, Terry, 74, had not been seen since heavy downpours struck Valencia on Tuesday.
The couple’s daughter, Ruth O’Loughlin, from Burntwood, Staffordshire, confirmed her parents’ bodies were found on Saturday.
“We held out hope that they were still alive and maybe sheltering somewhere,” she told the BBC.
Her mother, Terry, had told friends they were “popping out” to get some gas.
Whilst holding back tears, Ms O’Loughlin told BBC Radio WM she found out her parents had died after receiving a message from their friends asking to call them.
“He said ‘Ruth, get your husband’, I called my husband in and he just said ‘Martin, hold your wife’, and said that they’d been found and they’d been found in their car.”
“We still don’t know exactly what happened to them. The only thing we’ve got from this is that they were together. It’s not the way you want your parents to go.”
Ms O’Loughlin previously said her parents had moved to Spain about 10 years ago as they “always wanted to live in the sunshine”.
She said she was told the pair were missing on Thursday, after friends checked on them and found their pets at home.
More than 200 people have died in Spain’s worst flooding disaster in generations, as rescuers battle to find survivors.
The flooding began on Tuesday, following a period of intense rainfall in the region.
The floods have also caused the death of another person from the UK, a 71-year-old man died hours after being rescued from his home on the outskirts of Málaga after heavy rain and hailstorms triggered flash floods in the area.
The man, who has not yet been named, was taken to hospital but died on Wednesday after suffering “several cardiac arrests.”
Mr and Mrs Turner were both retired and lived in a bungalow with their dogs.
Ms O’Loughlin said she last spoke to her mother the day before the floods, when they “had a good chat,” but she was not able to reach either of her parents upon learning of the flooding.
“We talked about mum and dad coming over here next year to spend some time with us and we just ended the call and I’m really glad I said ‘I love you’ and she said she loves me too,” Ms O’Loughlin said.
Emergency workers in Valencia are continuing to search through underground car parks and tunnels in the hope of finding survivors.
There has been anger at a perceived lack of warning and insufficient support from Spanish authorities after the floods.
The king and queen of Spain were pelted with mud and other objects by angry protesters as they walked through the flood-hit town of Paiporta on Sunday.
