The bodies of both policemen missing since the early hours of Sunday morning were recovered today after being washed up on the A Coruña coastline.

The first to be found was that of 35-year-old Rodrigo Maseda, from Burela (Lugo). It was found on the tiny Playa del Matadero, near Orzán at around 11am today by Civil Protection officers still working on the rescue operation. Rodrigo Maseda had been a police officer since 2002.

The body of the other missing officer, 34-year-old José Antonio Villamor Vázquez from Friol (Lugo) was found at around 3.30pm between the areas of Riazor and La Esclavas by a group of divers from the Club del Mar, who have spent the past few days working with the maritime rescue services in an attempt to save the missing men.

Hundreds of people all along the A Coruña coastline have collaborated in the ongoing search and rescue operation and efforts continue to try to find the body of 23-year-old Slovakian student Tomas Velicky, whose life the police officers were trying to save when they were swept away almost a week ago. 

The chief of police for Galicia, Jaime Iglesias, has been to the beach this morning, along with the mayor of A Coruña, Carlos Negreira and the deputy mayor and safety officer Julio Flores.