Spanish mum and her two children drown in Navarre river

A tragic 15 July in Spain, as the village of Roncal in the region of Navarre mourns the drowning of 29-year-old Fatima and two of her children, ages eleven and seven.

A local woman reported the incident to the Guardia Civil at around 4.30pm on Wednesday. Upon their arrival, the police first found the mother's body and then those of her sons. Fatima leaves behind two other children.

The incident occurred in the area of the dam, a historically popular swimming spot for locals and tourists alike. All indications are that they drowned in the early afternoon near the Esca river dam.

Despite the river's low flow due to the dry season and after weeks with hardly any rain, the area has pools of varying depths where swimmers often jump in. The drowning occurred at a depth of approximately three metres.

Once they pulled the bodies out of the water, the local medical team, began resuscitation efforts. Due to the small size of the team, the fire department also dispatched personnel to relieve them.

The firefighters brought additional equipment, such as oxygen and suction devices. Later, a helicopter medical team arrived and, after a few minutes of attempting to resuscitate the injured, they ceased their efforts.

In their investigation, the Guardia Civil are working on the hypothesis of a chain reaction accident, which started when one of the three victims was in distress and the others entered to help.

Emergency personnel worked for hours at the scene and provided assistance to family members, friends and neighbours, who were visibly shaken by the incident. Fatima and her family from North Africa had been living in Roncal for three years.

Roncal town hall has declared three days of official mourning. The official flag will be flown at half-mast and no official events will be held during those 72 hours.

Access the broad Spain national news archive