Firefighters in Torrevieja have discovered the body of an 82-year-old woman at her home after she had not been seen for ten days. The emergency call was made at around 4.30pm on Wednesday by a neighbour who became concerned when she stopped going out as usual and a strong smell was coming from the flat.

Crews from the Torrevieja fire station used a ladder truck to enter the third-floor property on Calle Diego Ramírez, near La Hormiga park, through a balcony window. Inside, they found the woman dead in the bathroom. Initial indications suggest she had been dead for more than a week. She was born in Madrid and lived alone.

Firefighters in the area respond to at least one call a week involving elderly residents who live alone and have suffered falls or medical emergencies at home. In many cases, coordinated action with the Guardia Civil and Local Police helps to save lives.

However, around 15 similar cases are recorded each year in Torrevieja and along the Vega Baja coast, involving people who lived alone and were not discovered in time. According to the National Statistics Institute, 27% of households in Torrevieja are single-person homes, and nearly 16,000 of its 110,000 registered residents are aged over 70.