Swiss search dog team helps after flood disaster in Valencia
Published: Wednesday, Nov 20th 2024, 12:00
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The Swiss rescue dog organization Redog sent a search dog team to the flood disaster area in the Spanish region of Valencia on Wednesday. Their task will be to locate people who are still missing, the organization announced.
Three search dogs, each with a dog handler, as well as a head of operations and a technical tracking specialist with a search camera will help in the search for missing persons in the flood area, a media spokeswoman told the Keystone-SDA news agency.
It was still unclear on Wednesday exactly how long the operation would last. Other search dog teams from other organizations with which Redog is cooperating are also on site, it was further stated on request. These include a team from Freiburg im Breisgau in Germany.
Redog was deployed at the invitation of the local authorities in the Valencia region. Three weeks after the devastating rainfall, landslides and flooding, eleven people are still missing there.
Criticism due to slow start of aid
According to the latest assessment by the central government, the natural disaster claimed at least 227 lives. According to the report, 219 bodies were recovered in Valencia alone. There were eight fatalities in the neighboring regions of Castilla-La Mancha and Andalusia. In some places, there was as much rain in just a few hours as there usually is in a whole year.
The accident had caused a great deal of resentment due to the slow start of aid. On November 9 - a week and a half after the accident - around 130,000 people took to the streets of the regional capital Valencia to demand the resignation of Valencia's head of government, Carlos Mazón.
©Keystone/SDA
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