2 Young Brothers Still Missing 11 Days After Spanish Floods Pulled Them from Father’s Arms: 'They Were Such Happy Kids'

Mar. 15, 2025

Izan and Rubén Matías are missing after they were carried away in flood waters in Spain.Photo:sosdesaparecido/X.com

sosdesaparecido/X.com

A family in Valencia, Spain, is continuing the desperate search for two young boys after flood waters ripped them from their father’s grasp over a week ago.

“Everything that was forced down the ravine — cars, trees and a container — hit the bedroom outer wall with a great crash,” the boys’ aunt, Barbara Sastre, toldThe Times.

A missing person poster for Izan Matias and Rubén Matias.sosdesaparecido/X.com

Victor grabbed his sons in his arms as the water swept them away, his next-door neighbor Jonathan Perez told the BBC. But despite his best efforts, the boys were swept away in the floods — and so was Victor.

“Victor regained his footing and carried the boys in his arms. But then he realised he no longer had them,” Perez said. “The water took everything in its path.”

The father of two was found four hours later, clinging to a tree a few hundred feet from the home. After more than a week of intensive daily searches, Rubén and Izan are still missing.

The aftermath of the flooding in Valencia, Spain, on Oct. 30, 2024.David Ramos/Getty

David Ramos/Getty

The boys — who are not the only people missing following the catastrophic flooding — have since made headlines as “los niños desaparecidos,” or “the missing children,” as the search for them continues, the BBC reported.

“We are destroyed,” Sastre toldThe Times. “They are so young and so many days have now passed.”

Sastre also described the young boys as cartoon-loving, high-energy children full of joy. “They were such happy kids,” Sastre told the BBC.

The aftermath of the flooding in Valencia, Spain, on Nov. 1, 2024.David Ramos/Getty Images

David Ramos/Getty Images

Their neighbor, Perez, echoed this sentiment — and expressed anger at the timing of the official flooding alert, which he thinks came too late.

“They were loving life and they hadn’t even started being people — they were 3 and 5 years old,” he said of the little boys.

“With better coordination, better management and an earlier alarm — even half an hour earlier — those kids could have been saved,” he added, “and those parents would not be going through hell.”

Izan and Rubén are among the 89 people who are still unaccounted for after the deadly flooding as of Tuesday, Nov. 5, according to theAssociated PressandThe Times. At least 217 people, meanwhile, are confirmed to have been killed.

source: people.com