It was “a Dantesque episode, a real hell of destruction, death and finally darkness.” This describes the judge investigating the management of the DANA of October 29 the worst hours of a tragedy that resulted in 224 dead and three missing In the province of Valencia. The magistrate maintains the thesis that the deaths were avoidable and that the absence of notices prevented them from being safe.
The stories of the facts made before the instructor, the Civil Guard and the National Police for the relatives of the victims are shocking. All of them are part of the summary of the open criminal case in the Court of First Instance and Instruction number 3 of Catarroja, documents that add more than a thousand pages to which ABC has had access.
From these testimonies it follows that dozens of deaths -For mechanical asphyxiation- occurred from 6.30 pm, before the mass alert to mobile phones of the population was sent. A message, issued at 8:11 pm, which was “late” and “wrong in its content” when asking for displacements to be avoided, because “many victims died without leaving the ground floor of their home, when going down to the garage, or simply being found on public roads.”
These relatives, the judge details in one of their cars, “saw their relatives disappear in front of their eyes.” «Parents, spouse or brothers who saw how they were literally escaped in their hands. Children, spouse or brothers dragged by A torrent of water and mud. A spouse managed to save his wife, but nevertheless he died after fighting for a long time against water drag, ”he laments.
Some «witnessed how the victims went down to the garages, in some cases in succession, and never returned. Relatives of deceased who witnessed as these, due to their advanced age, worse physical conditions or, simply, to the human inability to withstand the force of the water and mud current, they perished. Some of the victims lost their lives after having sent farewell audio messages To their children, other relatives arrived at the homes of their elders and found their lifeless bodies, ”says the magistrate.
Izan and Rubén
One of the most remembered cases is that of Izan and Rubén, 5 and 3 years old. About 18.30h, a water thrombus destroyed one of the walls of the Hall of the Casa de Campo de Torrent in La were with their father, which was also dragged by the water to the outside. The adult managed to grab a tree and endure for two hours until the water level dropped. “He can’t see how his children leave home.” Their bodies were found fifteen days later.
Florin and Axinia
The last time Florin and Axinia were able to communicate with their daughters was 22.30 hours and were uploaded on their van, as stated in the summary. They were asked to notify 112. Water reached two and a half meters at home, as their relatives told ABC. The ten days of search in the Natural Park of La Albufera, where this Romanian marriage resided, ended in the worst possible way.
“A wave of water”
A young woman told the judge how her father went down to the street and no longer returned. About 19.50 hours, a few meters from the house of his parents, “he saw how a wave of water came from his home, without having rained in a catarroja,” which “in a matter of minutes went from being nothing to reach the trees.” The last time his mother could see his father “the water came to her waist”, although “nothing was seen because the street lamps stopped working.”
“In 15 or 20 minutes”
The marriage had everything prepared to celebrate that night the birthday of one of his children. About 18.30h, the woman saw that “dirty water” began to enter the store where she worked in Catarroja. The water came “like a tsunami”, in “15 or 20 minutes”, but trade employees could be safe. Her husband left the house on foot to go looking for her and never arrived. The last time he spoke with him was at 8:06 p.m. and told him that he was uploaded on top of a car and subject to an awning.
Frustrated rescue
The father of a deceased girl reported how at 8pm the water already reached her hip in her Benetússer bar. The door of the premises broke and the neighbors of the floors from above lowered a “very short” staircase so that the four family members – they, their wife and two children – could be saved. The 9 -year -old girl tried to climb, but fell into the water and was dragged by the current. His father threw himself for her, but stood in a cars “cap.” The child’s lifeless body was found days later a kilometer from the bar.
The screams of relief
About 19h, but in any case “before the alarm”, the declarant went on foot for her mother, who lived in a downtown of Catarroja, given the impossibility of taking the car out of the garage. By then, a car had already built on the facade of the ground floor of its parent and there were vehicles doing barrier, so he could not access. The neighbors of the farm told her later that the old woman shouted “Socorro, Socorro, to drown me,” but they could not do anything for her because the dazzled courtyard had bars.
“His mother had drowned”
Another case included in the summary is that of a woman who came to warn at 7.10 a.m. to her mother, 91, that the Poyo ravine was overflowing. A few minutes later, the old woman’s caregiver, who was with her in Catarroja, sent a video to the daughter who showed how the water was entering the house, to which they followed calls for help in which she shouted that “her mother had drowned” and that she was also going to die. At five in the morning, the water level in the streets went down and the witness was able to move to her mother’s house, where she confirmed that the old woman had died.
The policeman who wanted to save his neighbors
Among the complaints, there is also the story of the woman of a policeman who went down to a Benetússer garage, at 20 hours on October 29, after listening to screams of help. The agent was able to help the trapped until the water stamped a van at the garage door and was completely flooded. The next day they were able to recover their body and that of other people who perished there.
Eight hours of anguish
The same happened with the father of a complainant in Massanassa around 18.15. Surprised by the thrombus in the underground parking lot, their parents were held from a railing so as not to be dragged by the current. The man did not endure anymore and his lifeless body was located two days later. The woman remained there for eight hours until she could be rescued by neighbors.
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