In Flight Death
The woman who died on an EasyJet flight from Gatwick to Malaga with a suspected chest infection picked up on a Caribbean cruise has been named as grandmother-of-two Ann Rudkin.
The airline was accused of negligence yesterday as it emerged the 63-year-old had been allowed to board a plane on Monday despite her deteriorating health.
Today she was identified as an expat English teacher from Weymouth.
English teacher Mrs Rudkin, who lived in Fuengirola, was pronounced dead after her packed Monday afternoon Easyjet plane from Gatwick landed at Malaga Airport on Monday evening.
News of her death emerged after passengers on a Virgin Atlantic flight from Barbados were quarantined for four hours at Gatwick after a sickness outbreak onboard.
Around 30 people were treated, with three taken to hospital for further tests. They had also been returning from a Caribbean cruise holiday, though there is no suggestion at this stage that the two incidents are linked.
A court in Malaga has been tasked with a routine investigation into the death.
International Women’s Day
The Popular Party has announced it will not be attending the demonstration for International Women’s Day tomorrow. In a press release, the opposition conservative group defended its decision on the grounds that the march was “politicized” and “partisan.”
“Far-left parties want to monopolize this demonstration, looking to create division and conflict between men and women it said
PP leader Pablo Casado told members that they could join the women’s strike, which has also been called for tomorrow, or attend the demonstration if they wanted to.
Female leaders within the PP, had planned to attend but changed their mind when they saw the declaration.
Instead of attending the protest, the PP has decided to hold its own separate event in honor of International Women’s Day. The event will take place in Madrid at noon.
Ride Hailing
Spanish ride-hailing service Cabify said it will return to Barcelona today but will operate under strict new regulations after the local government caved in to the demands of striking taxi drivers.
In January, taxi drivers in Barcelona and Madrid shut down services and held protests calling for tighter rules for ride-hailing services such as Uber and Cabify, which they claim operate with an unfair competitive advantage.
Under the new rules, Cabify must allow at least 15 minutes to pass between when the service is hailed from a customers’ mobile telephone to pick up time.
Earthquake
The National Geographic Institute recorded a 3.1 magnitude earthquake below the sea off the coast last night.
The quake was registered at 10.18pm with its epicenter in the Gulf of Cadiz at a depth of around 60km.
No property damage or personal injury has been reported.
Travel
Young backpackers are snubbing the US as the country is seen as ‘uncool’ in what travel experts are calling the ‘Trump slump’.
The US was once among the hottest destinations for teenagers and gap year students.
According to reports it is not just the UK, but many Europeans who are shunning the nation.
The United Nations World Tourism Organization announced in January that Spain had overtaken the United States as the second-most visited destination in the world.
According to the New York Times, Europeans ‘overwhelmingly cited the Trump administration and its policies as reasons for avoiding or canceling trips to the United States’.