Spanish rescue workers continue to trawl flood hit Valencia in search for missing people(Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Missing British couple found dead days after devastating Spanish floods

The elderly couple was discovered in a sparsely-populated area where they lived near Pedralba, a small town a 45-minute drive north-west of badly flood-hit Valencia

by · The Mirror

A missing British couple have been found dead days after the devastating Spanish floods which have claimed the lives of more than 200 people.

Mayor Andoni Leon confirmed the tragic news on Sunday, saying volunteer locals had found the bodies of the elderly couple in an area near Pedralba - a small town a 45-minute drive north-west of the east coast city of Valencia - where they lived. The mayor said they also recovered the remains of a Spanish man themselves following a town hall-led attempt to locate those unaccounted for following Tuesday’s killer floods because no outside help had yet arrived.

The number of British nationals who have died in the flooding now stands at three, with the total death toll standing at 213 - and the numbers are only expected to climb. Last week it was revealed a British 71-year-old had died in hospital after being rescued by boat from his flooded home on the outskirts of Alhaurin de la Torre near Malaga.

The two Britons were recovered from a town around 45 minutes from Valencia( Image: SOLARPIX.COM)
The elderly couple were found around the same time as one Spanish national( Image: SOLARPIX.COM)

Regional president Juanma Moreno confirmed his nationality as he visited one of the areas near Malaga worst-affected by flooding there. The unnamed Brit was rescued last Tuesday by firefighters after his partner alerted the authorities because he was having an apparent heart attack and suffering from hypothermia.

He was taken initially to nearby Guadalhorce Hospital and stabilised before being transferred to a hospital in Malaga where he died in the early hours of Wednesday morning after suffering multiple organ failure. The bodies of the British couple are understood to have been found in what was left of their home.

The small town of Pedralba is also coated in mud, like most other Valencian communities( Image: SOLARPIX.COM)

The grim discovery was made on Saturday but their nationalities were not confirmed by the local mayor until yesterday. The Spaniard who died has been name locally as 44-year-old Francisco Quesada. His neighbour Ruth Rodriguez, who found him after searching for him with family and friends, said she had starting looking after he disappeared shortly after sending her videos of the flooded River Turia near his home.

She told local press: “No-one from any of the security forces found him, it was us removing mud and debris.” Pedralba mayor Mr Leon added: “We haven’t received any help. Thanks to all the volunteers that are arriving we are becoming almost auto-sufficient.” The first members of Military Emergencies Unit UME, a branch of the Spanish Armed Forces, reached the municipality of around 3,000 inhabitants yesterday afternoon shortly after he voiced his concerns.

Parts of Valencia have been caked in mud following the devastating floods( Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)

He said the town was still without drinking water and “one or two more people were still missing.” Spanish rescue teams have recently said they fear mass graves await them in Valencia's underground car parks, from which they have started to pump standing water. Officials have said they fear the number of dead could jump “by the hundreds” as they remove the water.

Scuba teams have been deployed to the submerged Bonaire Shopping Centre, near Valencia, over the weekend, with pictures showing the entrance completely blocked by deep, mud-brown waters. The divers have discovered hundreds of unsearched vehicles that they fear could harbour legions of dead bodies.

Volunteers continue to search for missing people as the death toll in Spain climbs( Image: AFP via Getty Images)

A source said over the weekend that people who tried to escape the floods in their cars may have become trapped in the murky depths as the water rushed inside.

They said: "The most shocking scene is that of the escalators disappearing and sinking into the muddy pool the Bonaire underground car park has become. The brown water is still there. For sure, there are dozens of unusable vehicles floating around. It remains to be seen whether there are also victims who were trapped, because in their attempts to escape many people tried to leave by taking their vehicles."