The search for a missing woman came to an end on Thursday afternoon when her body was located among the debris left after a building collapsed in the Castellón town of Peñiscola.
Rescue teams, including a dog search and rescue unit, had been working non-stop since 7.30pm on Wednesday when part of the 30-year-old building in the Font Nova development collapsed, leaving three people trapped and more than 30 without a roof over their head. They spent the night in neighbouring houses and in three hotels in the town.
There was some hope in the early hours of Wednesday morning when a 26-year-old man was pulled out alive and taken to hospital where he remains in a serious but stable condition in the Intensive Care Unit.
However, a llittle later the body of a 14-year-old boy from Morella was found beneath the rubble. He was reported to be the son of the partner of the dead woman.
Valencia president Ximo Puig, who visited the site, offered his condolences to the family of the deceased and thanked the emergency services for their huge effort. He said the Valencia government would give all the help Peñiscola needed to accommodate the people who had to be rehoused, as well as all the technical help needed to investigate the cause of the collapse.
While the cause is not yet known, witnesses say the building collapsed in two stages, fifteen minutes apart, which gave many people the chance to escape. The building was made up of 55 homes, of which 18 collapsed.
The Valencia Report 