The Albufera It is one of the best-known natural parks in Spain, but has become a vast depressed area where rescue workers work tirelessly to locate the 16 people still missing by DANA from Valencia 18 days after the tragedy.
The command of the Civil Guard of Valencia announced this Saturday that the careful operation to locate more victims in this emblematic wetland of Valencia continues.
“Every meter of the Albufera is controlled by civil guards from the reserve and security groups“, underlined police sources.
The troops are combing the terrain with the help of local ROCA teams who help them plan the deployment.
Additionally, a group of 70 environmental agents from the Community of Madrid collaborate in support work for the Civil Guard in the area of this natural park.
They are deployed on lands affected by DANA 1,891 firefighters and 8,561 soldiersof which 2,103 belong to the UME. There are also more 800 Civil Protection volunteers from all over Spain.
In the area of citizen security, there are 9,728 agentsbetween national police and civil guard, more than 500 members of the various local police forces and more than 130 members of the Police Generalitat.
The device activated by Maritime rescue to locate possible victims of DANA at sea. The center is installed in the port of Valencia and has been trying for two weeks to locate possible victims of DANA at sea, which has devastated part of the interior of the province.
The total number of deaths recorded due to DANA and flooding increased this Friday evening to 217after the death of a person in a hospital.
These 217 deceased, all with an autopsy performed, are fully identified and in 213 cases their families have already taken care of their mortal remains to celebrate the funeral, according to the assessment with the history accumulated since the beginning of this episode which elaborates- he Data Integration Center (DIC) of the City of Justice of Valencia.
Civil Guard operation in Albufera.
36,000 performances
This Friday, the director general of the Civil Guard, Mercedes Gonzalezvisited the agents who intervene in tasks of all kinds following the effects of DANA, recognizing their work “since minute zero, since that fateful day, Tuesday the 29th”. As he pointed out, this is “the most important rescue operation of the Civil Guard, in its 200 years of history, with more than 36,000 actions.”
“An operation that will remain in the history of the Civil Guard and which, I hope, will remain in the hearts of all Valencians,” he said.
The Director General assured that the Armed Institute “will not stop until every person is with their family and every family can end their pain“. And from now on it will be “what we do, which is to return to normality in the most affected municipalities, to help people return to normal and to rescue the missing and find them as quickly as possible” .
From the start of the weather forecast, the Civil Guard “all services were deployed on alert”, with 750 agents “already working on the ground before the worst of the DANA arrived”.
During that night, they were “fortunately able to react to save many lives” and the images and testimonies can bear witness to this.
“The first was to save lives and the second, save the greatest number and give corpses the dignity they deserve” with his ransom.
“They forgot about work shifts, vacations and personal and family needs. They risked their lives and it even cost more than one life,” he said, referring to the death of a civil guard in Paiporta and the companion of a lieutenant. in DANA.
Floral offerings next to the Barranco del Poyo, while cleaning and debris removal work continues in Picanya.
Hero
“They were very aware that they were leaving their families and that they were going to save lives. They were absolute heroes of this tragedy, but they were also victims, they also lost their homes, their vehicles and their fashion of life. just like the Valencians,” he explained.
In this sense, he stressed that the emergency made it possible “to show the best side of the Civil Guard and an absolute symbiosis with the citizens, because they are the ones who helped others, but they are also victims of this tragedy” . according to statements collected by Europe Press.
In fact, he recalled that the first two victims of the Civil Guard during a rescue effort were also recorded in the Valencian Community, in the Bellver de Oropesa ravine.
Furthermore, he said it was “very exciting to see how the Civil Guards emphasized that the citizens were also helping them. From all this tragedy and all this pain, this Civil Guard union remains“.
It now remains to accomplish the task of a “much more specific” search operation, with actions in certain areas “where there is an approximation that the missing people who still remain can be found and that is where “the most specialized services intervene”, as is the case of the Albufera of Valencia.
