THHU PM JAN 10

Plane Crash
A British pilot has been killed and another person is missing, feared dead, after their small aircraft crashed in Spain.
The Piper plane took off from the Portuguese town of Cascais and was heading towards Hondarribia airfield when it crashed on a mountain in the Basque Region at about 2pm yesterday.
Rescuers recovered one body while the second crew member is missing. Sources suggest the two people on board were British.
Pictures from the scene show foggy skies and the charred remains of the wreckage on the ground, high up in the mountain range.
The alarm was raised when an explosion was heard in the area.
A search operation was launched and Ground teams reached the wreckage at 3.45pm and found a body.

Police Jailed
TWO police officers were among 18 people found guilty of drug trafficking.
A third former policeman was also sentenced to 10 years in prison after the group were found to have helped a drugs gang smuggle a ton and a half of hashish into Nerja.
One serving Guardia Civil officer received an eight year prison sentence and was banned from the force for 15 years after he helped traffickers land safely in Spain, advising them to arrive on the shore on days he was on duty.
A municipal policeman from Nerja received the same sentence after also helping the gang, renting a property on the coast which members used to store drugs before moving them on.
A third officer, a former member of the National Police, was tasked with keeping an eye on the section of coastal road where the drugs were due to land. In addition to his prison sentence, which was higher as it was his second offense, the man was also fined €8.5 million and banned from ever returning to the police force.

Alicante Hospital
FOR the first time in this winter season, the Alicante General Hospital was forced to place a number of emergency beds in corridors.
According to reports the cold snap during the early part of this week has resulted in a sharp increase of elderly people using the hospital.
An extra 18 beds have been deployed.
Emergency medical personnel have been stretched over the last few days to cope with the extra demand .. and in preparation for the usual annual increase in flu cases and an extra nurse and an assistant have been added to the medical team.

Poverty
PEOPLE in an area of Marbella are in or at serious risk of poverty or social exclusion according to an official study.
The Junta de Andalucia’s Regional Strategy for Social Cohesion and Inclusion report named the Las Albarizas area as among 14 across Malaga Province facing poverty or social exclusion.
Torremolinos Norte was also named among the areas.
The report comes as Marbella is set for a roughly €36 million windfall through 95 council projects this year. The money has come from corruption cases
Javier Garcia, Marbella Council’s public works spokesperson, said the spending plan was designed to make the city more “liveable”.
Projects include a neighborhood plan and funding for investments in sports and cultural facilities, as well as urban conservation.