Spanish rescuers pull body from collapsed building, one still missing

[August 26, 2021]    By Eva Manez

PENISCOLA, Spain (Reuters) - Firefighters in the Spanish coastal town of Peniscola found the body of a teenager early on Thursday in the wreckage of a collapsed building and said they were still searching for another missing person.

Firefighters work among the debris of a collapsed building in the town of Peniscola, Spain, August 26, 2021. REUTERS/Eva Manez

Peniscola's mayor Andres Martinez told Reuters the boy was around 15 years old and had been staying in the three-story building, which collapsed for unknown reasons on Wednesday evening in the region of Valencia on Spain's eastern coast.

Around 140 firefighters and emergency personnel worked through the night on the recovery operation and, around midnight, rescued a man who had been buried in the rubble, the local authorities said.

"He was completely trapped by a slab and any wrong manoeuvre would have had fatal consequences," firefighter Carlos Verchili said.

(Writing by Nathan Allen; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

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