British couple missing after Valencia floods ‘found dead in their car’

The bodies of missing couple Don and Terry Turner were found in their car on Saturday, their daughter told the BBC.

Volunteers and residents in Valencia clean the mud four days after flash floods (Angel Garcia/AP) (AP)

A British couple missing in Valencia after floods hit the region have been found dead in their car, their daughter has told the BBC.

Don Turner, 78, and wife Terry, 74, had not been seen since heavy downpours caused flash floods in eastern Spain.

Their daughter, Ruth O’Loughlin, from Burntwood, Staffordshire, confirmed to the BBC that her parents’ bodies were found in their car on Saturday.

The only thing we’ve got from this is that they were together. It’s not the way you want your parents to go

Ruth O'Loughlin, daughter of Don and Terry Turner

She had previously told the BBC her parents had moved to Spain a decade ago as they “always wanted to live in the sunshine”.

She was told the two were missing on Thursday after friends checked on them and found their pets at home but their vehicle gone.

Mrs Turner had told friends they were “popping out” to get some gas, she said.

Ms O’Loughlin told BBC Radio WM she found out that her parents, who lived near Pedralba, had died after receiving a message from their friends.

She said: “He said ‘Ruth, get your husband’. I called my husband in and he just said ‘Martin, hold your wife’, and said that they’d been found and they’d been found in their car.”

“We still don’t know exactly what happened to them. The only thing we’ve got from this is that they were together. It’s not the way you want your parents to go.”

Speaking to Sky News, the couple’s other daughter, Renee Turner, said the family are angry at the way the situation has been dealt with by the Spanish authorities.

There was no alert ... We are so angry at the slackness of the Spanish authorities ... It’s not just our parents, there’s hundreds of people, and they have to be held accountable

Renee Turner, daughter of Don and Terry Turner

She said: “There was no alert – my parents would not have been out with that alert. We are so angry at the slackness of the Spanish authorities in that respect.

“It’s not just our parents, there’s hundreds of people, and they have to be held accountable for that. I think it is diabolical, to be honest.

“We shouldn’t be sat with anger. They acted far too late. What happened in Valencia was unnecessary.”

More than 200 people have been confirmed dead in the flooding disaster so far, with searches continuing for bodies inside houses and the thousands of cars left strewn in the streets.

Volunteers and residents are helping thousands of soldiers and police officers clean up the mud and debris left behind by the floods.

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesman said: “We are supporting the family of a British man and woman who have died in Spain and are in contact with the local authorities.”