A THOUSAND soldiers, firemen and police continued their feverish search for survivors last night after more than 70 bodies were recovered from the stricken campsite of Virgen de Nieves in the Spanish Pyrenees. More rain threatened the area where ash many as 100 were feared dead after a massive mud slide.
Teams of divers prepared to plumb the Rio Gallego river for bodies swept away to a muddy death, as helicopters scoured surrounding fields in the area near the town of Biescas. All victims identified so far are Spanish, but state radio said six holidaymakers from Germany, France and Belgium were among the dead. The campers also included British and Dutch tourists.
Police said the task of identifying the victims of Spain's worst such disaster was complicated because most lacked identity documents.
King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia flew to the disaster area to comfort relatives of victims as rescue workers battled to pull bodies from the mudslide.
The Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, sent a message to the Spanish prime minister, Mr Jose Maria Aznar, conveying sympathy to him and to the Spanish people on the tragic loss of life.
State radio said 75 bodies had been recovered and 150 people had been injured. About 40 campers remained unaccounted for, raising fears the toll might rise into the 100 range, it added.
The campsite outside the town of Biesca, 130 kms (90 miles) east of the city of Pamplona, was filled to capacity with families when freak rains hit on Wednesday evening. It was engulfed in seconds when the rains triggered floods that turned into an avalanche of mud and rocks sweeping cars and trailers up to one kilometre away.
One hospital official said 129 injured remained in hospitals in nearby Jaca and Huesca, all of them Spanish.
Rescuers expressed frustration at the difficulty of recovering bodies.
"You feel impotent," one wet eyed volunteer told state television. "You want to (pull them out) and you can't. In those moments, you look towards heaven and do what you can".
Like the royals, who flew in from their Majorca palace, Mr Aznar interrupted his beach holiday to inspect the damage.
"I have flown over the area it's a dreadful sight," he told reporters.
Rescue teams recovered the computer disk drive containing information on campers, but found it was illegible after being damaged in the flood.
"It all happened in a flash I can't explain it, it was like a giant wave carrying off everything, the cars, the trailers," one survivor told Spanish television. "It was a matter of seconds, not even minutes." Another man described from his hospital bed how he had to give up helping other people swept away by the flood in order to save his own life. "There comes a moment when it's you or nobody," he said.
Hundreds of people were evacuated from the area to a sports stadium in the town of Biescas where they were given food and shelter, a doctor said.
Eighty children were evacuated from a camping site in nearby Pineta for fear the river Cinca would burst its banks.
Patsy McGarry adds: It is believed there are no Irish casualties among the dead and injured following the flash floods at the Las Nieves campsite. A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said the site was "not particularly popular with the Irish," and that there was "no indication from Madrid that any Irish are involved".
Spokes people for the Haven, Quay Camp, and Campotel holiday firms in Cork and Galway said they did not include Las Nieves in their continental itinerary. Haven in Cork used camp sites in Spain which were all along the coast. Quay Camp, in Cork also, used four sites in that country, but these did not include Las Nieves, while Campotel in Galway used no sites in Spain at all. Neither Falcon nor Budget Travel use the site.