Four-year-old British girl with autism rescued in rain on Costa Blanca after escaping holiday rental

A four-year-old British girl who went missing during a family holiday on the Costa Blanca was rescued by local police on Saturday after being found alone in a nappy under torrential rain.

The youngster, who has been diagnosed with severe autism spectrum disorder, wandered away from a holiday rental on a residential estate in San Miguel de Salinas, an inland municipality located near Torrevieja in Alicante province.

Local police officers on afternoon patrol discovered the disorientated child and immediately transported her to a nearby health centre for a medical evaluation.

Police confirmed that the child had slipped out through an unsecured door while her family was preparing for their scheduled return flight to the United Kingdom the following day.

Her parents, who were actively searching the surrounding neighbourhood, encountered the officers who were holding the girl in safe custody.

Following a routine health check at the local clinic, officers reunited the young girl with her parents.

San Miguel de Salinas municipal police confirmed via social media that the child was unharmed despite the torrential rainfall affecting the region.

The incident occurred during a weekend of severe weather across eastern Spain that claimed two lives and triggered multiple search-and-rescue operations in Catalonia.

Authorities confirmed that two fatalities occurred during the storm: a 75-year-old man died when a campsite wall collapsed in Tordera, while another man drowned in a flooded garage in Montornès del Vallès.

Emergency services in Catalonia continue to search for two missing individuals. Among them is 12-year-old Rami B.S., a boy with level 2 autism who fled his family home in Granollers early on Sunday morning after becoming distressed by the storm. Police are currently investigating potential sightings of the boy in central Barcelona. In a separate incident, rescue teams in Pineda de Mar are searching for a middle-aged man feared to have been swept away by a flooded river.