Cork family recounts horror of ETA blast

A CORK family was caught up in a horror bombing on the Spanish resort island of Mallorca which killed two police officers and led authorities to block all outgoing flights and ships from leaving as part of a manhunt.

The bombing, blamed on Basque separatist group ETA, targeted a police vehicle. It was the second attack linked to ETA in less than 36 hours. A powerful car bomb on Wednesday destroyed a police barracks in the northern Spanish city of Burgos, injuring about 60 people.

Mallorca is one of Spain’s top tourist destinations and the explosion occurred at the height of the summer holiday season.

Television images showed the charred and mangled remains of a vehicle that had been parked on a street in the Palmanova beach resort area, southwest of the island’s capital, Palma de Mallorca.

Corkman Felan Lynch, who is on holidays with his wife and two children, is staying in the Nova Apartments just 100 yards from the police station where the explosion occurred.

Mr Lynch said he saw the police carrying out sweeps of the beaches in the area earlier in the day, something he had not seen before. “We were at the pool at around 1.45 when we heard a big blast. It gave us an awful fright and at first we thought it was a gas explosion. The police station, where we were told the explosion happened, is only a few yards up the road,” Mr Lynch said. “I was down in a local restaurant for coffee in the morning at about 8.15 and saw a lot of police combing the beaches. I have never seen that before.”

Another Irishman, who is staying at the nearby Sol Tordos hotel, said: “We heard a massive bang which echoed around the complex. We hadn’t a notion what it was.

“It is shocking stuff because that is the way we sometimes walk going to town. My wife won’t stay on the mainland after the explosion in Salou in 200.

“You never think the islands will be targeted. It could easily have been myself or my wife and the kids who were walking up there,” the father-of-three said.

The street where the police station is located is a popular shortcut for holiday makers walking from Calle de Penzones, an area where there are several hotels and apartment complexes.

British holidaymaker Maureen Mitchell told how her stepson watched a charred body being pulled from the burnt out vehicle. “We were sat around the pool enjoying the sunshine and suddenly there was a massive bang, a huge explosion. Peter’s elder son, Mitchell, ran over and saw a charred body with no legs being pulled from the burnt out wreck of the car. Children were crying hysterically.

Today is the 50th anniversary of ETA’s founding and the group may be trying to demonstrate with attacks on two consecutive days before the milestone that it was not in any danger of breaking up.

The explosion happened around six miles from the Marivent Palace, the summer residence of the Spanish royal family. King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia were due to arrive on the island today. Their daughters, the Infanta Elena, 45, and the Infanta Cristina, 44, were said to be in the palace.