The identities of 62 victims of storms in Valencia are not yet known: how is that possible?

The number of confirmed fatalities stands at 217. Five died in Castile-La Mancha, one in Andalusia, the others in Valencia. 89 people are still missing. Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska announced on Wednesday afternoon that their names would be announced very soon. Of the 62 bodies found on Wednesday, it was still not possible to say who they were.

Alain Remue, head of the Missing Persons cell at the federal police, is not really shocked by this, given the circumstances in which the people died. “It may sound gruesome, but not all of those will be complete bodies that were found. Many victims will have been badly mutilated, even decapitated. That makes identification more difficult,” he says.

“The bodies were swept away by the raging waters. If you have seen the images, you know at what speed the water flowed through the streets. Many victims became trapped underwater. We also saw this during the flood in the Vesder Valley. Don’t forget that all sorts of things pass through there. Cars, furniture, but also a lot of broken glass. That can cause nasty injuries and even literally cut off limbs.”

Many victims may not have had any papers in their pockets. And were naked or semi-naked when they were found. “Most aquatic corpses that we find, even after an accident or suicide, are barely wearing any clothing. The power of the water cannot be underestimated,” says Remue.

He does expect that the list of unidentified bodies will quickly reduce once the identification teams have sufficient ante-mortem data. These are still being collected. “As much information as possible is requested from families of missing persons. This ranges from clothing to jewelry, tattoos, scars to physical imperfections such as a pinky that was once sawed off. And of course the dental data play a very important role.”

Because formal identification is rarely possible based solely on the appearance of a body. “A body that has been in the water for a while in combination with the warm temperatures in Spain changes quickly and usually becomes unrecognizable. It can triple in size,” says Remue.

After a while, local residents will be missed by friends or family and reported missing. But foreigners or illegal immigrants, for example, that is a different problem. “If a flood victim is found but no one has reported him or her missing, identification may take longer. Or will it never be identified. Take illegal aliens who die. Their friends won’t report them missing, otherwise they’ll give themselves away. And family in their home country often don’t even know where they are.”