The body of the man from Zafarraya that was killed in an avalanche in the Sierra Nevada on the 20th of February (our March Front-Page Article) was finally located on the 18th of May, thanks to the Spring thaw.

Around eight in the morning – almost three months later – one of the two men who had accompanied the victim on the day of the avalanche, discovered the toe of a boot protruding from the snow, so he phoned the Guardia Civil – John Hogbin’s body had been located at last.

The cadaver was found almost in the riverbed – the avalanche, which was a kilometre wide and had run 700 metres, carried the victim quite some distance before leaving him buried under five metres of snow.

The snow-clearing machines had not been able to work in that area, owing to the difficulty of the terrain and at 5ms’ depth, the probing poles would not have located him either, so it was only the heat of May that has made it possible to lay the victim’s remains to rest.

(News, Zafarraya/Sierra Nevada, Granada, Andalucia)