The magistrate in charge of Courtroom number 3 of the Civil and Investigative Section of the Trial Court of Catarroja has issued this Friday an order in which she updates to 234 the official count of deaths from the dana that struck Valencia on October 29, 2024.
According to a note from the Superior Court of Justice of the Comunitat Valenciana (TSJCV), the latest victim added to the list is a 73-year-old man, a resident of Paiporta, who was injured when his home was flooded and died almost a month later, on November 26, at the General Hospital of Valencia, as a result of infectious endocarditis caused by the E Faecalis bacterium.
The judge makes this decision after analyzing the forensic doctor’s report and the statements of the deceased’s children, taken as testimonial evidence at the request of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
In the ruling, the examining magistrate highlights that the key factor in establishing the link between the dana and the death of this resident is "contact with contaminated surfaces", since it is recorded that the man suffered a wound on one foot that would have allowed the infection to enter his body.
The children of the deceased told the court that their father’s home was flooded by the arrival of 1.70 meters of water and that, after the episode, he had injuries on one foot for which he had no prior history. They also reported that, in the following days, they observed how his toes swelled and took on a purplish tone.
On November 18, after five days of diarrhea, vomiting, and fever, the man had to be admitted to a hospital, where he finally died on the 26th of the same month.
The forensic report submitted to the court indicated that it was not possible to establish a "single and direct causal link between infectious endocarditis caused by E Faecalis and the events that occurred on October 29".
The judge finds a causal relationship
The report also stated that it was not sufficiently documented in the medical record that the deceased had a wound on his foot, although it admitted that this injury could have acted as a possible entry route for the infection if he had been exposed to contaminated surfaces.
By putting these expert conclusions in connection with the statements of the relatives, the holder of the Courtroom number 3 of the Court of First Instance of Catarroja considers that there is indeed a causal relationship between the DANA and the death of this man and decides to expressly include it in the judicial investigation into the fatal victims of the meteorological episode.