The government of Spain has today announced that it will send 500 more military personnel in the Valencia region - 300 from the army, 100 from the air force and 100 from the navy, who will join the 1,200 military personnel already on the ground helping to deal with the consequences of the floods in the area, reported the Spanish agency EFE, quoted by BTA.
The new troops will help in the towns of Utiel, Requena, Ribaroja, Torrent, Paiporta and Algemesi, said defense ministry sources, who said the soldiers would mainly be involved in clearing roads and distributing essential aid, among others with other tasks.
Territorial Policy Minister Ángel Victor Torres Pérez said yesterday at a press conference after a meeting of the Crisis Committee held in Madrid under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez that the 500 new soldiers are mostly from a special military unit to deal with emergency situations. Later, however, sources from the ministries of defense and territorial policy specified to EFE that it is about 300 servicemen from the army, 100 from the air force and space forces and 100 from the navy.
In addition, a hundred soldiers from the Royal Guard are on standby and can join the operation if necessary and after the Ministry of Defense receives an order to do so from King Felipe VI. At the press conference, Torres stated that the government will mobilize all the troops “that are needed” for assistance and recalled that 1,800 National Police officers have already been sent to the affected areas, in addition to 750 Civil Guard officers, who will be supported by a further 280.
„Security is of fundamental importance to the Spanish government and we will provide all the necessary troops,”, he stressed. In this regard, Torres commented that the government will send to the Valencia region teams of engineers, as well as employees and infrastructure necessary to “open the municipal roads and highways” and improving connectivity in the area.
The government will also provide the Valencia region with eight more coroners and three coroners in addition to the eight coroners and assistants already working in the area, and will make international coroners available if needed. Torres recalled that so far 155 people have died as a result of the floods in the Valencia region, two in Castilla-La Mancha and one in Andalusia, and that there are still “dozens of missing people”. “We cannot confirm this number, but it is clear that the more days pass and they do not appear, the more the hope of finding them alive diminishes,”, he pointed out. On Wednesday, there were 150,000 households without electricity in the Valencia region, but this figure has already been halved, the minister said, adding that gas supply has been restored and authorities are trying to normalize water supply to all households.