Today in Spain: A roundup of the latest news on Friday

Spain finds flood victim one year after tragedy

DNA analysis confirmed that a corpse found on Tuesday in the Turia river belonged to one of three people reported missing since the October 29th 2024 tragedy that killed more than 230 people, a Valencia court said in a statement.

The victim, like the two other missing people, "had already been declared legally dead" and so the death toll had not increased, the court added.

The water had dragged the body some 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the town of Pedralba to the municipality of Manises outside the regional capital Valencia, Spain's third-largest city.

A state funeral will take place in the city on October 29th to mark the anniversary of the disaster, which raised serious questions about the adequacy of alert systems and the emergency response.

Campaigners have taken to the streets every month, demanding the resignation of the head of the regional government Carlos Mazon over his handling of the floods, with the next demonstration scheduled for Saturday.

Regional authorities insist they did not have the information needed to warn people sooner.

Spain to buy US weapons for Ukraine amid tensions with Trump

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that Spain will join Nato initiative PURL (Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List), whose members will buy and procure US-made weaponry for Ukraine.

Sánchez confirmed the decision on Thursday ahead of the EU leaders’ summit in Brussels, stating that Spain is "a country committed to the Atlantic Alliance and undoubtedly also committed to defending and supporting Ukraine at all levels."

This comes at a time when Donald Trump has on four occasions now criticised Spain for not spending enough on defence, suggesting they should be "thrown out" of Nato as they're "not a good team player".

Sánchez finally responded to Trump's repeated criticisms on Thursday by saying "he knows we're delivering".

Swimmer dies in Catalonia during Storm Benjamin

A swimmer drowned this Thursday in the northeastern province of Tarragona, as Storm Benjamín battered Catalonia and many other parts of Spain.

In total, 26 were treated by the region Medical Emergency System (SEM), 11 of whom had to be transferred to medical centres.

The extremely windy weather has also caused power outages on Rodalies commuter trains and forced the Civil Protection Unit to activate the specific wind phenomenon VENTCAT across much of Catalonia.

The highest wind speed was recorded in Portbou (Girona), where the wind blew at 131.8 kilometres per hour.

Overloading led to deadly Spanish trawler sinking

The sinking of a Spanish trawler that killed 21 crew members off Canada in 2022 was caused by overloading, poor safety protocols, lack of maintenance and errors by the captain, according to an official report.

The Villa de Pitanxo, based in the Spanish port of Marin, sank some 450 kilometres (280 miles) off the eastern coast of Canada in February 2022 with 24 crew on board.

Only three survived, including the captain, who, along with the vessel's owner, is under investigation for involuntary manslaughter.

A probe by a Spanish transport ministry agency charged with investigating maritime accidents found the ship had exceeded its authorised crew and was carrying excess equipment and fuel tanks, according to a copy of its findings seen Thursday by AFP.

With additional reporting by AFP.