British couple found dead in car after devastating floods hit Spain

A British couple have been found dead in their car after devastating flash flooding swept through the Spanish province of Valencia.

Terry Turner, 78, and Don Turner, 74, originally from Staffordshire, lived in a house outside the village of Pedralba, some 25 miles north-west of Valencia.

The couple’s daughter, Ruth O’Loughlin, confirmed to the BBC that her parents’ bodies had been found in their car on Saturday.

Ms O’Loughlin said they had moved to Spain about 10 years ago because 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 only their pets at home. Her mother had said she was “popping out” to get some gas.

At least 217 people have been confirmed dead, with many more believed to be still missing, after Spain’s worst flash floods in modern history hit the eastern region of Valencia last week.

Andoni Leon, the mayor of Pedralba, said at the weekend that volunteer rescue workers had found three bodies after the flooding, including thsoe of the British couple.

The three victims lived in “scattered areas” outside the village centre, Mr Leon said.

A 71-year-old British man died in hospital after being found suffering from hypothermia near Alhaurin de la Torre in Malaga province.

Mr Leon said there were still “one or two more people missing” in Pedralba. He said volunteers were undertaking search and rescue tasks and that supplies had reached the village thanks to the solidarity of people from all over Spain.

The third confirmed victim in Pedralba was named as 44-year-old Francisco Quesada, whose body was found by his wife five days after the disaster struck, amid debris in his home.

“We, his family and friends, found the body of my husband,” Ruth Rodriguez told the news agency EFE.

The provisional death count from flooding across Spain has reached 217, with 213 found in the province of Valencia.

Authorities in Castilla-La Mancha confirmed on Sunday that the body of a 70-year-old woman from the village of Letur had been found in the Segura river, seven miles from her home.

The centre of Letur suffered extreme damage after the local river, a tributary of the Segura, burst its banks. Four other residents of the village remain missing.

In Valencia, the clean-up and rescue operation is continuing amid heavy overnight rain in some areas and warnings of more possible storms.

At least 7,500 troops have been deployed, the Spanish government said on Monday, amid rising discontent over the response to the catastrophe.

Schools in the city of Valencia were closed on Monday as a precaution.

Soldiers from the UME military emergency unit continue to pump water and clear vehicles from flooded underground car parks after dozens of those confirmed dead were found in cars they were attempting to salvage from the floodwater.