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Staff Reporter / 2008-03-02 19:55:59

38 year old fell from this block of

Did The Earth Move For You?

An earthquake with a magnitude of 3.3 on the Richter scale was felt in several parts of the province of Alicante early on Sunday morning.

With its epicentre in San Miguel de Salinas the quake was felt throughout the provinces of Alicante and Murcia.

The National Geographic Institution said that it was formerly recorded as occurring at 05.03 am and that they had received over 300 telephone calls from residents of Pilar de Horadada, Torrevieja and La Marina in Alicante, and San Pedro del Pinatar and San Javier in Murcia all saying they had been awoken by its tremours.

The earthquake occurred at 37.94 degrees north latitude, longitude 0.88 degrees west.
San Miguel de Salinas, Torrevieja and much of the Orihuela coastline was completely destroyed by the great earthquake of 1829 although on Sunday no damage was actually reported.

For structural damage to occur quakes would usually have to register on the Richter or mercalli scales at a force of 5 or above, as reported in the UK last week when an earthquake of 5.2 woke much of the country.

Two Fishing Boats Seized In Torrevieja

Two fishing boats which were found to have immigrant workers who were not registered as being crew members working on board, have been detained at the port in Torrevieja, as the boats' insurance and certificate of navigability are not valid due to the mismatch in the numbers.

On one boat, the 'Tercer Arco del Triunfo' which is based in Garrucha, Almeria, only 2 crew members were registered, but the authorities found 5 on board. Of the 3 which were not registered, one Lithuanian and one Senagalese had permission to reside in Spain but were awaiting work permits. The other had no papers at all and was sent to the Foreigners department of the Guardia Civil for identification.

On the other boat detained, 'La Vibeta II' based in San Pedro del Pinatar, there were 11 crew members. Only 6 were registered and the remaining 5, all Moroccans, had no papers in their possession.

Both vessels were being detained in the port until a decision on possible sanctions is made.

Black Tuesday for Spain

Last Tuesday four women died at the hands or their partners. In the worst day for domestic violence on record, three of the four aggressors were caught and the other committed suicide.

The victims were aged 22, 44, 49 and 54, and were resident in Valencia, Cadiz, Madrid and Valladolid. With these four women the total number of women who have been killed by their partners is now 14 since the beginning of the year, five of whom have been foreign.

The 44 year-old Spanish woman who died in Cullera, Valencia, was shot in the chest by her husband, who had two restraining orders against him not to go near her and a criminal record for aggression. The attack took place in the doorway of a bar in Cullera, when the man produced a revolver and shot his wife.

The 22 year-old who died in Madrid was Bolivian, as was her 29 year-old partner, who stabbed her, then handed himself into the police.

In Cadiz the 49 year-old woman was also stabbed by her ex-husband after an argument in the street. The woman had a restraining order to not approach her husband.

In Valladolid the woman was shot by her husband with whom she had been married for 20 years. He then shot himself.

Fatal Fall From Balcony In Guardamar

A 38 year-old Bulgarian man died on Tuesday evening after falling from the balcony of his flat in C/ Doctor Luis Rivera in Guardamar.

It is believed that he was trying to climb down from the first floor flat and when attempting to jump on to the roof of a lorry parked below, fell onto the road. He suffered severe head injuries as a result, causing a brain haemhorrage which in turn proved to be fatal.

He was still alive but unconscious when the emergency services arrived but died at the scene. He shared the flat with his brother who, neighbours told us, was bathing his child at the time of the incident and was unaware of what had happened until the emergency services arrived.

Alicante Declares War Against Gum

Alicante Town Hall workers have to remove 400 chewing gum splodges a day from the city streets. They are so fed up with the time and energy involved in cleaning up something which could so easily be popped into a rubbish bin that soon anyone who is seen spitting chewing gum onto the streets will be fined 100€. At present the fine is 12€.

The chewing gum has to be removed with water pressure machines. In a study carried out by Alarcon Town Hall, near Madrid, it was shown that chewing gum on the streets can host up to 50,000 germs, even pneumonia can be stored in a piece of used chewing gum.
For this reason the war against chewing gum is so important for the City.