Family murder: Dad kills two daughters, then self in Asturias, Spain

In a tragic murder-suicide scenario on Thursday this week, the 55-year-old father of two young daughters allegedly murdered the two girls, aged seven and nine, before taking his own life.

It happened in San Juan de la Arena in the Soto del Barco municipality of Asturias in Spain.  The father, José Ignacio Bilbao Aizpurúa, is alleged to have murdered his two daughters, Amets and Sara, 9 and 7 years old respectively, in his apartment before committing suicide by throwing himself off a viaduct in the town.

Apparently the man is separated from his wife, Bárbara García Martínez, and shared custody of the two girls.  He was supposed to return them to their mother on Thursday, but when they did not arrive home, the mother reported this to the police.  On entering the man's apartment, police found blood on the doormat and an iron bar covered in blood inside, as well as the bodies of the two children.  The Civil Guard later found the body of the father under a viaduct on the nearby A-8 motorway.

Neighbors described the father as a sad person who hardly spoke to anyone. The owner of a bar in the town where the man regularly drank coffee, Josefa Barriga Garrido, said: "He was a person who did not speak with anyone. I think that the only person he spoke to was my husband. When my husband learned of the incident he said that it was impossible. He did not believe the father would have done this."

Apparently when the couple divorced a year ago, the father returned to the Basque Region.  However, around three months ago he returned and rented the apartment in the town.  Under the custody agreement, he had the right to see the children on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from four to six in the afternoon.

Due to his quiet nature, most neighbors in the surrounding area did not even know he had two daughters.  On hearing of the tragedy, a teacher at the school the girls attended called it "so cruel and absurd."

Spanish sources:
La Nueva España 1
La Nueva España 2
The Local

Photo:   
Top image screengrab from video
View of San Juan de la Arena CC by-SA Asturkian

Two pit bulls ate owner's dead body in caravan in Mallorca

Two purebred pit bull terrier dogs, locked inside a mobile home on the island of Mallorca, ate the body of their owner after he died of natural causes. 

Authorities believe the dogs ate the man's remains due to hunger, or that thirst may have caused them to need to drink his bodily fluids.

According to an autopsy run on the 65-year-old German man, named only as Jürgen G., he had apparently been dead for several weeks.  It it not sure how long after his death the dogs, who could not get out of the caravan, ate his remains in an attempt to survive.

One of the dogs had passed away, while the second was very upset and had to be immobilized and taken away by specialists.

They were found together with the man's body on Monday this week, locked in the caravan which was parked near a sewage plant in Ses Salines, Mallorca. The remains were found by a friend of the dead man, who was concerned that he had not been able to contact him for some time and who then contacted Spain's Civil Guard.


Spanish sources:

La Vanguardia
Diario de Mallorca

Photo: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic Beverly & Pack

Airborne archaeology uncovers 2,000-year-old gold mines in Spain

Archaeologists, using plane-mounted lasers, have found a 2,000-year-old network of gold mines in north-western Spain. 

Located in the Eria Valley in the spectacular Las Médulas region of León, the mining network is considered to be the largest opencast gold mine of its type dating from the Roman Empire. The network of mines had remained hidden and overgrown over the centuries.

Photo : J. Fernández Lozano et al.

Researchers from the University of Salamanca discovered the gold mining network using a remote sensing technology known as LiDAR while making an aerial survey of the area. Science Daily reports that LiDAR operates by illuminating targets using a laser beam to measure distance.

The LiDAR technology was originally developed by NASA back in the late 1960s, when it was used to track the retreat of the ice in the Arctic and the composition of the oceans.  The technology today is used with either planes or drones.

Javier Fernández Lozano, a geologist with the University of Salamanca, is co-author of a paper about the discovery which has been published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

Fernández Lozano said of the technology, "Unlike traditional aerial photography, this airborne laser detection system allows the visualization of archaeological remains under vegetation cover or intensely plowed areas."

This is apparently the first time the LiDAR "geo-archaeology" method has been used in Spain.

Researchers wrote in the paper, "Our intention is to continue working with this technique to learn more about mineral mining in the Roman Empire and clear up any mysteries such as why Rome abandoned such a precious resource as gold from one day to the next."

Nature World News reported the researchers also found evidence that the Romans had diverted rivers in order to supply water to the mines back in the first century BC. This appeared to follow similar practices by the Egyptians in North Africa.

"The volume of earth exploited is much greater than previously thought and the works performed are impressive, having achieved actual river captures, which makes this valley extremely important in the context of Roman mining in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula," Fernández Lozano concluded. 

Spanish sources:
Sinc
Diario de Leon

Photo of Roman gold coin: CC by-SA Kaly99

'Ebola Heroes' granted citizenship by Spain

Two African missionaries, who played a role in the recovery of nursing assistant Teresa Romero from the Ebola virus, were granted Spanish citizenship in Madrid on Friday.

Paciencia Melgar Ronda (47) from Equatorial Guinea (pictured on the right wearing green) and 36-year-old Helena S. Wolo from Sierra Leone were granted citizenship by Spain after traveling to Madrid to donate blood plasma for the treatment of Romero.

Ronda contracted the virus working as a nurse in Liberia and volunteered to be used as a test case, so doctors could observe the long-term evolution of her recovery from Ebola.  Wolo traveled to Spain from Liberia and donated plasma which was then used in the treatment of Romero. According to doctors involved in the case, the two nurses' assistance had been vital to Romero's eventual recovery from Ebola.

Romero was the first person known to contract Ebola outside of Africa, after treating two Spanish missionaries who were repatriated from Sierra Leone, suffering from the virus.  Both missionaries eventually died.  Romero recovered and left hospital on November 5th. 

Ongoing Ebola news:

On Thursday last week, a Spanish health worker from the Spanish NGO Médicos sin Fronteras was repatriated from Mali after suffering a "high risk" needle-stick injury treating a patient with Ebola in Bamako, capital of Mali.

The health worker was admitted to Madrid's Carlos III hospital where she has been quarantined, but so far is asymptomatic, according to doctors.

Spanish sources:

20 Minutos
RTVE
The Local

Photo: Screengrab from YouTube video