CASTELLON, Spain, Feb 7 (AFP) - Flags flew at half mast and tears flowed freely in this southeastern Spanish town Monday in memory of 18 people who died in their sleep following a gas leak at a nearby mountain hostel.
Eleven men and seven women, including the five young members of a rock band, were killed by the fumes on Sunday at Todolella, a hamlet of just 136 people, after celebrating the 50th birthday party of a friend, Bartolome Messeguer.
Messeguer and his partner both survived the tragedy, the worst of its kind in Spain. The pair, who had slept apart from those who died, were taken to hospital where officials described their condition as good.
Javier Gallart, who had been at the party but came away around midnight, told local on television he had had the grim task of returning to help identify some of the bodies.
"I went up to the kitchen, where we had been chatting just hours earlier.
"It was terrible. Just think, I had been up there with them.
"Some were on the ground, others in their beds. They were dead. I had to identify a few," he said, grim-faced.
Including Saturday's disaster, 62 people have died in 14 similar incidents in Spain since 1991, and the regional government declared a day of official mourning for the victims.
The victims' funerals have been scheduled for Monday afternoon in Morella, the main town nearest to the remote mountain village.
Preliminary investigations suggested a butane gas container had either leaked or been improperly closed, causing carbon monoxide poisoning.
"They wouldn't have even noticed anything. There is no smell, nothing," explained Jose Antonio Garcia Andrade, heading the forensic investigation.
"It is not entirely clear exactly how this happened, while the autopsies are still under way," added regional government official Juan Maria Calles Moreno.
"It seems the heating may not have been working in the hostel, and someone there appears to have brought along their own heating source.
"The regional authorities are investigating and will leave no stone unturned in their inquiries to get to the bottom of this. Medical and psychological aid is on offer to the relatives.
"Our hearts go out to them," Calles Moreno said, adding: "Meanwhile we await the results of the autopsies.
He was speaking outside Castellon's provincial hospital, where throughout the night, relatives and friends of the deceased came and went as a steady stream of hearses arrived.
Many clung to one another for support, looking too shocked to cry, though one young man gripped a handkerchief as, shellshocked, he came out of the hospital.
"He has lost a close friend," explained his father, the uncle of one of the victims.
A distraught mother clad in a green overcoat and scarf against the cold night air swiftly picked her way past a gaggle of journalists, stopping only to plead: "We are all human beings. Please leave us be with our thoughts for a moment."
The regional authorities laid on a bus Sunday night to transport the relatives from the scene of the tragedy to Castellon and engaged a three-strong team of psychologists to provide support to the bereaved.
The bodies of the dead, wrapped in white shrouds, were transferred to the modern, five-story hospital as staff worked through the night.
First Deputy Prime Minister Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, Minister for Public Administration Jordi Sevilla and Prince Felipe and his wife Letizia were scheduled to be present at the funerals at Morella, at 5:00 pm (1600 GMT).
"This is just appalling. It is just dreadful that such a thing could happen, that such a tiny community could lose 18 lives," said Llius Tena of the Castellon local authority.
On Monday morning, the hostel was roped off as police and the fire brigade continued to comb it for evidence, the cars of several of the victims still parked outside the three-story stone building.
Outside, a heavy early morning mist hung over the mountain hamlet to add to the gloom.
02/07/2005 13:18 GMT - AFP