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Gracia Raya García, a resident of Ciudad Real, and Blanca Pineda de las Infantas y Villatoro, from Cordoba, did not know each other until a year ago when a tragic accident brought them together.
Both women lost their sons in the same plane crash on 11 October 2023 in the Cabo de Gata natural park in Andalucía's Almeria province. It was a fatal accident that shocked the whole country because of the unusual circumstances.
The Diamond DA20-C1 light aircraft belonging to the One Air Diamond Flight Center pilot school in Malaga, which was occupied by Rafael, a 24-year-old flight instructor, and his 28-year-old student Markus, crashed at night in the area known as Cerro del Fraile, an area which is difficult to access in the extensive natural park in Almeria.
They were travelling to Valencia from Vélez-Málaga in what was one of the last flight tests Markus had to pass in order to obtain his pilot's licence. "They don't do that route any more," said García Raya, mother of the trainee pilot who was about to fulfil his lifelong dream.
The first anniversary of the accident has been and gone and these mothers decided to pay tribute to their sons at the site of the fatal crash. On 12 October family and friends of the deceased travelled to Cabo de Gata to take part in a wreath laying on the hill where the plane crashed that fateful Friday afternoon, while on the Saturday a mass was held in their memory at San José church.
But that tribute was not the only objective of Gracia and Blanca during their stay in Almeria. They had another 'mission' to accomplish: to get the personal belongings of Rafael and Markus that were left behind on the mountain. "As it was a natural site," said Markus' mother, "they asked that the owners of the plane, which would be One Air, remove it." The process apparently took some time, during which certain objects 'disappeared'.
"An older man told the aunt of the other young man (during a visit to the site) that they had taken a lot of things," she said, making an "appeal" to those who might have the personal belongings of the deceased to return them. They are things of great personal and sentimental value, but of little economic value.
The objects that could not be recovered after the accident, and which could have ended up in the hands of hikers, are Rafael's identification card, as well as his watch, special helmets that he used for flying and Markus' tablet. "We disabled it after the accident, so it is useless, although it is very valuable to us," explained his mother.
The two mothers are not out to find the culprits, they simply want to recover the personal belongings of their children and, to this end, they have contacted the San José tourist office in Níjar, so that anyone who may have in their possession any of these objects (or others that might have been left in the area after the aeroplane was moved) can hand them in there. "They can do so anonymously if they wish," said Gracia Raya.
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