Sea victims bodies recovered in Mallorca

THE bodies of two young men that were washed away by a large wave last week have been recovered.

After nearly three days of searching police frogmen found the bodies just 150 meters from where they were swept away.

The incident happened at Cala Mandia (Manacor) at 5 pm. The two men had just finished working on a hotel nearby. The alarm was raised by a third man who was taking a photograph of them.

They were standing close to the sea edge and with strong winds there was a swell up to two meters. Then a particularly strong wave washed the two men away.

A Guardia Civil helicopter and two marine rescue boats were rushed to assist in the search for them, but it was to no avail.

Another marine rescue helicopter was also sent to help with the search. With hopes of finding the men alive dwindling the search continued into the evening.

The search resumed at 8 am on Thursday and was again suspended at 7 pm. The search resumed at first light on Friday and at 12 pm Saturday dinner time frogmen discovered the bodies at a depth of eight meters in a small crevice.

Because of the recent storms the frogmen were working in very difficult conditions with zero visibility.

The two men have been named as 23 year old Brahir Eliezer Hernandez Angarito of Colombian nationality and the other one 20-year-old Jose Luis Giraldo Iriate from Venezuela.

The bodies when recovered were taken to the port in Porto Cristo (Manacor) where relatives were waiting to identify the bodies.