STORM Bruno has already claimed two lives in the Basque Country after a man and woman, believed to be a couple, were swept out to sea off the coast of Deba (Guipúzcoa province).
The victims, aged 67 and 65 and both from the city of Vitoria, were walking along the pier at around 16.45 when a massive wave hit them.
A witness threw himself into the water to try to save them, but was beaten back by the current and forced to swim ashore.
Emergency services were unable to reach the pair in time.
Their bodies were found and pulled ashore.
Mayor of Mutriku - which Deba is part of – José Ángel Lizardi said the two victims had walked to the edge of the pier to watch the spectacular tidal surges, which involve waves of up to eight metres (26 feet) in height.
The man 'lost consciousness almost immediately', Lizardi says, and was found floating face-down, showing 'no signs of life', whilst the woman was attempting to help him.
But she was dragged away by the current and witnesses lost sight of her.
Lizardi says no actual ban on walking along the pier had been put in place because of the storms, largely because it is not an area heavily frequented by pedestrians, and generally, given the obvious dangers, nobody goes near it during a tempest.
He hinted that he thought the victims had been 'rather rash' doing so, and lamented the fact that it had cost them their lives.
