The sea, not ruling out l'Albufera either, is the main scenario for the search of the missing individuals for whom there is still no trace after the passage of the raging waters from the torrential rains caused by the cold drop. Meanwhile, their relatives share images of their loved ones and cry out for specialized hands to join the search parties that hundreds of volunteers organize spontaneously on a daily basis.
The divers from the Underwater Activities Group (GEAS) of the Civil Guard lead the search for the missing persons, a priority for a security operation that continues to grow with volunteers and municipal police, firefighters, and civil protection services from all over Spain joining in to get involved in the mud.
Civil Guard divers, in the Albufera
A dozen Civil Guard divers inspect the corners of the Albufera, while another dozen search the mouths of the rivers and overflowing ravines. These are not easy dives. The waters of the Albufera are contaminated, and the bottom is full of objects dragged by the storm that pose a trap.
Eight days after one of the worst natural tragedies in recent years in Europe, the rescue operation leaders suspect that the vast majority of the bodies still missing may have already reached the sea.
Discrepancies in the counts
The official death toll in Valencia until Wednesday night was 199, not 211 as stated by the coordination center
Mayka Massanassa
The cemetery of Alfafar
And Jesus remained on his cross
The small cemetery of Alfafar is located right at the entrance of the town and at the gates of an industrial estate that houses several large stores. Its well-kept garden-lined streets with benches among the hedges, which were used by visitors to accompany their deceased loved ones, were torn apart by the fury of the storm. Yesterday, the graveyard still had half a meter of soft mud that enveloped everything. The force of the water brought down several walls of the cemetery and the doors of a few family mausoleums, even managing to dislodge several tombstones, exposing niches and shrouds. The space is impassable, so the deceased victims of this town's cold drop will have to wait if their relatives want to place their remains there. The water swept away a wheelchair, and during the first two days, a coffin ended up outside the niche and partially open. Yesterday, those remains had been collected, but the devastation in the cemetery was heart-wrenching. In the small chapel, the water tore down half of a wall, although the crucified figure of Jesus Christ remained on the wall.
Throughout the day, helicopters flew over the area, supported by aerial drones that divided the large search map. The flying devices, some equipped with infrared cameras, are meant to assist the ground and sea personnel in detecting the presence of corpses. Also joining the operation are dogs from the K-9 unit, trained to detect human remains. Even the dogs from the special protection service of the Royal House that the Kings provided at the beginning of the tragedy to help in the rescue operations have been moved to Valencia these days. Yesterday, Zeus, a playful malinois used to working in predominantly urban spaces, found himself tracing tracks among reeds with his snout covered in mud.
The mud has flooded all the villages in the area
Those reed beds are meticulously searched, with a lot of patience. The same patience that also four municipal police officers from Ciempozuelos dedicated this Wednesday at noon during their search along one of the edges of the mouth of the Poyo ravine in the Albufera. Every step was an effort to retrieve the boot from the merciless mud in which it sank. The officers focused on a vehicle that, inexplicably, was dragged by the current to the middle of the ravine, filled with mud and vegetation inside. Other cars have appeared in the middle of the rice fields, once again showing the tremendous force of the water that early morning, raising suspicions that some of the bodies still being searched for might have been carried out to sea.
And that very likely possibility of bodies reaching the sea justifies the recent restrictions on maritime traffic and the request for the presence of the research vessel Ramón Margalef, from the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO-CSIC). The vessel is equipped with technology capable of exploring the seabed with great precision and detail using a tool that allows it to obtain very detailed images at great depths. Its arrival in Valencia is expected in the coming days. Those that have already arrived (they can already be seen sailing off the coast) are the minesweepers Sella and Duero from the Navy, whose crew inspects the possible appearance of floating bodies.
Figure dance
The confirmed deaths are 199, not 211
While the emergency teams continue their search for the missing individuals, in the Ciutat de la Justícia in Valencia, the Data Integration Center (CID) meets every afternoon. This body is exclusively technical and is made up of forensic experts and specialized agents from the Civil Guard and the National Police. They are responsible for gathering and overseeing the reports of identification of deceased victims and are the only ones authorized to publicly release the official figures to the media. The latest update of these official figures on Wednesday night estimated the number of deceased at 199, not the 211 deaths that the Integrated Operational Coordination Center (CECOPI) has inexplicably and steadfastly reported for several days. CECOPI includes representatives from all the actors involved in the emergency, as well as technicians and politicians from all administrations. La Vanguardia asked the communication officer of the Valencia High Court about this discrepancy in numbers last night. The spokesperson reiterated that the only officially accredited body authorized to update the daily number of deceased individuals is the CID, and as of Wednesday night, the number of deaths due to the cold drop in Valencia was 199, with all of them having undergone autopsies. This figure aligns with the information provided by authoritative sources from the National Police consulted by the newspaper. The Data Integration Center provided the first figure of missing persons on Tuesday, which was 89, and by Wednesday, it had increased to 93. These numbers do not necessarily correspond to bodies that have not yet been recovered, as there were still 54 bodies awaiting identification at the Fira de València morgue on Tuesday night. Additionally, two more bodies were recovered in Letur yesterday, bringing the number of victims in Castilla-La Mancha to seven, in addition to the unfortunate fatality in Andalucía.
