A child kidnapped by her father found at the bottom of the ocean, Spain in shock
Steph Deschamps / June 12, 2021
The body of a six-year-old girl abducted with her little sister by their father was discovered off the Spanish island of Tenerife after weeks of searching, causing a wave of emotion in Spain.
Olivia, 6, and her sister Anna, one year old, were missing since the end of April on the island of the Canary archipelago after sending a last message farewell of their father, also missing, to their mother from whom he was separated, told AFP a spokesman of the Civil Guard. The day after their disappearance, a boat belonging to the father and a car seat used by Anna had been found adrift off Tenerife, leading the authorities to launch a search in the area.
Until a body found Thursday at the bottom of the ocean was identified as that of little Olivia, the spokesman confirmed to AFP. Authorities continue to search for Anna and her father off the island in the Atlantic Ocean near the coast of northwest Africa.
The announcement of the discovery of Olivia's body - at a depth of 1,000 meters in a bag weighted down by the anchor of the father's boat, according to the media - caused a great wave of emotion in the country.
I can not imagine the pain of the mother of little Anna and Olivia, missing in Tenerife, in the face of the terrible news that we have just learned, lamented the Spanish Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Thursday evening on Twitter. There are no words to accompany Beatriz (name of the mother of the two girls) in this moment of terrible pain. This violence against mothers to hit where it hurts the most is a matter of state, said for her part the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, a member of the radical left party Podemos.
In Spain, 39 minors have been murdered by their fathers or by their mothers' partners or ex-partners since 2013, according to government figures on gender violence. Several feminist collectives called demonstrations Friday night in several Spanish cities to denounce this crime as well as an upsurge in feminicides since the beginning of the year in the country, which is at the forefront of the fight against gender violence in Europe.