A research boat will scan the seabed to help search for those missing in Spain's floods

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — A Spanish research vessel that investigates marine ecosystems has been abruptly diverted from its usual task to take on a new job: Helping in the increasingly desperate search for the missing from Spain’s floods.

The 24 crew members aboard the Ramón Margalef were preparing Friday to use its sensors and submersible robot to map an offshore area of 36 square kilometers — the equivalent of more than 5,000 soccer fields — to see if they can locate vehicles that last week's catastrophic floods swept into the Mediterranean Sea.

The hope is that a map of sunken vehicles could lead to the recovery of bodies. Nearly 100 people have been officially declared missing, and authorities admit that is likely more people are unaccounted for, in addition to more than 200 declared dead.

Pablo Carrera, the marine biologist leading the mission, estimates that in 10 days his team will be able to hand over useful information to police and emergency services. Without a map, he said, it would be practically impossible for police to carry out an effective and systematic recovery operation to reach vehicles that ended up on the seabed.

“It would be like finding a needle in a haystack," Carrera told The Associated Press by phone.

Many cars became death traps when the tsunami-like flooding hit on Oct. 29.

The boat will join a wider effort by police and soldiers who have expanded their searches for bodies and the missing beyond the devastated towns and streets. Searchers have used poles to probe into layers of mud while sniffer dogs tried to find scent traces of bodies buried in canal banks and fields. They are also looking at beaches that line the coast.

The first area the Ramón Margalef is searching is the stretch of sea off the Albufera wetlands, where at least some of the water ended up after ripping through villages and the southern outskirts of Valencia city.

Spanish state broadcaster said Friday that the body of one woman had been found on the beach after she went missing when the rushing water swept through her town of Pedralba, roughly an hour’s drive from the coast.

Carrera, 60, is head of the fleet of the research vessels run by the Spanish Institute of Oceanography, a government-funded science center under the umbrella of the Spanish National Research Council.

He boarded the Ramón Margalef in Alicante, located on Spain's south coast, from where it will set sail to reach Valencia’s waters before dawn Saturday. The plan is to go straight to work with the 10 scientists and technicians and 14 sailors working non-stop in shifts. The boat also helped research the impact from the lava flow that reached the sea from the 2021 La Palma volcano eruption in Spain's Canary Islands.

Finding a body at sea, Carrera said, is highly unlikely. So the focus is on large objects that shouldn't be there.

The boat’s submersible robot loaded with cameras can dive to a depth of 60 meters to attempt to identify cars. Ideally, they will try to locate license plates, although visibility could be extremely limited and the cars could be smashed to bits or engulfed in the muck, Carrera said.

In the longer term, he said his team will also evaluate the impact of the flood runoff on the marine ecosystem.

Those findings will contribute to initiatives by other Spanish research centers to study Spain's deadliest floods of the century.

Spain is used to the occasional deadly flood produced by autumn storms. But the drought that has hit the country for the past two years and record hot temperatures helped magnify these floods, scientists say.

Spain’s meteorological agency said that the 30.4 inches of rain that fell in one hour in the Valencian town of Turis is an all-time national record.

“We have never seen an autumn storm of this intensity,” Carrera said. “We cannot stop climate change, so we have to prepare for its effects.”

Members of a theatre company sit with their muddy belongings after the floods in the outskirts of Valencia, Spain, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A house affected by flooding is photographed in Massanassa, Valencia, Spain, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. The graffiti in Spanish means 'Mazon dimisión' in reference to the president of the Valencia community Carlos Mazon. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Members of the V battalion of the military emergency unit, UME, use a canoe to search the area for bodies washed away by the floods in the outskirts of Valencia, Spain, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A volunteer walks with a broom over a muddy street in Massanassa, Valencia, Spain, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Civil Guards walk in a flooded indoor car park to check cars for bodies after floods in Paiporta, near Valencia, Spain, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

A soldier from the Spanish Parachute Squadron (EZAPAC) launches a drone in the search for bodies after floods in Barranco del Poyo on the outskirts of Valencia, Spain, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

A soldier from the Spanish Parachute Squadron (EZAPAC) searches for bodies after floods in Barranco del Poyo on the outskirts of Valencia, Spain, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

A soldier from the Spanish Parachute Squadron (EZAPAC) operates a drone in the search for bodies after floods in Barranco del Poyo on the outskirts of Valencia, Spain, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Soldiers from the Spanish Parachute Squadron (EZAPAC) look for bodies after floods in Barranco del Poyo, Spain, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Members of the army, police and volunteers clean the mud after the floods, in Masanasa, Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Members of the army and police walk through streets still awash with mud while clearing debris and cleaning up after the floods in Masanasa, Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Dolores Merchan, 67, looks down on her mud-splattered belongings from the house where she has lived all her life with her husband and three children, and which has been severely affected by the floods in Masanasa, Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Members of the V battalion of the military emergency unit, UME, search the area for bodies washed away by the floods in the outskirts of Valencia, Spain, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Members of the V battalion of the military emergency unit, UME, search the area for bodies washed away by the floods in the outskirts of Valencia, Spain, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Members of the fire brigade search the area for bodies washed away by the floods in the outskirts of Valencia, Spain, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Members of the V battalion of the military emergency unit, UME, use a canoe to search the area for bodies washed away by the floods in the outskirts of Valencia, Spain, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

CETINJE, Montenegro (AP) — Shock and dismay prevailed in Montenegro on Thursday after a gunman fatally shot 12 people, including two children, in a western town before killing himself.

At least four others were wounded in the shooting rampage in Cetinje on Wednesday that followed a bar brawl, officials said. This was the second such incident in the town in the past three years.

Hundreds gathered on Thursday evening at the main square in Cetinje for a candlelight vigil in the memory of the victims.

Police Commissioner Lazar Šćepanović described Wednesday’s shooting as “one of the biggest tragedies in the history of Montenegro.”

He said at a news conference that the victims included seven men, three women and two children, born in 2011 and 2016.

“Most of the victims were people he knew, his closest friends and relatives,” including the shooter’s sister, Šćepanović said. “This criminal act wasn’t planned or organized. It was unpredictable.”

The shooter, identified as 45-year-old Aco Martinović, killed the owner of the bar, the bar owner's children and his own family members, officials have said.

The attacker, who first fled after the rampage, was later located and surrounded by police. He died after shooting himself in the head, police said.

Residents of Cetinje, a town of some 17,000 people, were stunned and grief-stricken.

"I knew all of these people personally, also the attacker. I think when he did that, he was out of his mind," said Vesko Milošević, a retiree from Cetnje. "What do I know, he went from place to place and killed people. Its a catastrophe.”

Vanja Popović, whose relatives are among the victims, said that “we are all in shock.”

“How can I feel after this?" Popović said. "No one expected it. You can’t even ask anyone anything.”

Police had dispatched a special unit to search for the attacker in the town, which is located about 30 kilometers (18 miles) northwest of Podgorica, the country's capital. All roads in and out of Cetinje were blocked for hours as police swarmed the streets.

Police said that the shooter had died while being taken to a hospital in the capital and succumbed from the “severity of his injuries.”

Officials have said that the attacker was at the bar throughout the day with other guests when the brawl erupted. He then went home, brought back a weapon and opened fire at around 5:30 p.m.

Prosecutor Andrijana Nastić said Thursday that the attacker went to six locations during the shooting rampage, including the last one, where he shot himself.

Four men were killed at the bar, she said. The shooter then moved on to another location where he killed four more people, and then two children at a third site. He then went on to kill two more people at two other locations before eventually shooting himself, Nastić said.

“Further investigation will determine the exact circumstances of the events,” she added.

The government has declared three days of national mourning starting on Thursday, and all planned New Year's festivities have been canceled throughout the country.

Prime Minister Milojko Spajić said that the government may try to impose a total ban on weapons “because we must ask ourselves after this who should be allowed to have guns in Montenegro.”

The small Adriatic Sea nation, which has a population of around 620,000 people, is known for its gun culture and many people traditionally have weapons.

In August 2022 in Cetinje, which is Montenegro’s historic capital, an attacker killed 10 people, including two children, before he was shot and killed by a passerby.

Police have said that the suspect in Wednesday's shooting received a suspended sentence in 2005 for violent behavior and had appealed his latest conviction for illegal weapons possession. Montenegrin media have reported that he was known for erratic and violent behavior.

“Instead of holiday joy ... we have been gripped by sadness over the loss of innocent lives,” Montenegro's President Jakov Milatović said in a post on X.

Associated Press writers Jovana Gec and Dušan Stojanović contributed to this report from Belgrade, Serbia.

A view of blood by the door of a bar after a shooting incident, in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)

A police car outside a house after a shooting incident, in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)

A view of a bar after a shooting incident, in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)

A view of a police vehicle at the home of a gunman after a shooting incident, in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)

A view of a police vehicle at the home of a gunman after a shooting incident, in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)

Police officers stand guard at the home of a gunman after a shooting incident, in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)

Police officers stand guard at the home of a gunman after a shooting incident, in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)

A police officer stands guard at the scene after a shooting incident at a bar, in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)

Rescue workers work at the site of a shooting in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Wednesday, Jan 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)

Police investigators work at the site of a shooting in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Wednesday, Jan 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)

Police investigators work at the site of a shooting in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Wednesday, Jan 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)