Tributes paid to British couple killed in Spanish flash flood - The Guardian

Tributes have been paid to a British couple who died after being swept away in a flash flood in Spain.

Kenneth Hall, 72, and his wife, Mary, 70, from Bootle, Merseyside, were at a market in Finestrat, near Benidorm, when torrential rain caused a river to burst its banks at about midday on Friday.

Friends described the retired holidaymakers as "the most devoted couple you would ever want to meet". The couple, who were on holiday in the area, were shopping at a market when a wave up to a metre high surged through a ravine and hit traders and customers.

A friend, Pat Mercer, 62, said the couple were regular visitors to the area. "They went to Benidorm twice a year. They loved it out there, they went there for the last 20 years or so. They were fabulous, they were the most devoted couple you would ever want to meet."

Questions were being asked about whether the incident could have been avoided after it emerged that the local council had been fined for building the marketplace on a ravine bed without obtaining the necessary permission.

The ravine bed was covered with an asphalt base that can prevent water from draining away during thunderstorms. The Spanish environment ministry had told the council not to hold public events there until further work had been carried out, according to local reports.

The Halls are understood to have been dragged away in the current as water flowed through the marketplace, overwhelming cars and stalls. According to local reports, the couple's bodies were found trapped under a trailer. Two other people were taken to hospital, while a 90-year-old was missing but was later found unharmed in a nearby street, according to Spanish media.

The couple had three sons, Kenneth, Keith and Chris, and a daughter, Carol, who had recently given birth. The Halls had also recently become great-grandparents, Mercer said.