Bodies of the two young boys reported missing during the 'Dana' floods in Valencia are recovered

After a 15-day search, the bodies of Izan and Rubén Matías, aged five and three, were found in Catarroja, eight kilometres from where they disappeared

Belén Hernández

Valencia

Wednesday, 13 November 2024, 14:19

The bodies of two children who went missing in the Valencian town of Torrent during the devastating 'Dana' floods have been found this Wednesday 13 November. The little boys, Izan and Rubén Matías, aged five and three, were found in Catarroja, eight kilometres from where they disappeared.

The boys' relatives confirmed the tragic news in a message posted to social media: "This nightmare of 15 days of madness is over. Thank you to all the volunteers from all over Spain. We are speechless for all the help we have received these days. We will be grateful for the rest of our lives," they wrote.

Torrent had turned its attention to searching for the two boys after they were swept away by flood waters from their house on 29 October in the Masía del Juez area.

Since the report of their disappearance, the town hall launched a search operation where between 40 and 60 people including Local Police officers, firefighters and volunteers had been working tirelessly to locate them.

A Local Police drone did not stop searching the whole area, while police dogs also helped and, last Thursday, machinery was used to remove the mud from around the house in case they might have been buried underneath.

The house fell on them

The family was desperate. As their grandmother, Antonia Jiménez, told several media outlets, the last time she saw her grandchildren was at home, where they had been having lunch. Then, their father picked them up as it was expected to rain a lot.

It was around 6pm, when they were already in the house, when the electricity went out and shortly afterwards, the house fell on top of them, with flood waters then gushing inside. Their son, the children's father, tried to grab the boys but they slipped out of his hand. He was able to hold on to a tree where he remained for several hours until he could be rescued.

Torrent has also had to mourn the death of two other minors. They were with their family, their parents and another sister, in their vehicle in the area of the Alaquás bridge when they were swept away by flood waters. The children could not be saved and their bodies were found the following day in an orange grove.

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