A 24-year-old Scottish woman has drowned along with another British holidaymaker in Spain. They have been named as Michelle Clydesdale and Mark William Porter, 29. The bodies were found by police washed-up on the beach at the popular resort of Salou on Spain's Costa Dorada south of Barcelona.
The alarm had been raised at 2.25am by staff at the hotel where the pair were staying with three other young Britons. Reports say that the other three had managed to get out of the sea on their own after all five had gone for a midnight swim in a small rocky cove at the northern end of the seven mile long Playa Larga beach. A fire service rescue team, including divers rushed to the scene along with police.
But the divers were not needed because officers from the Catalan regional police force found the bodies washed-up about half a mile from where they had got into difficulties. A spokeswoman for the Catalan police at provincial headquarters at nearby Tarragona, said: "The alarm was raised after the three friends of the victims ran back to their hotel.
That was at about 2am. "The bodies were found at 3.45am. They were about 800 meters away from where the pair got into difficulties." The officer confirmed that weather conditions were not good. She said: "It was raining most of the night and I understand the sea was bad."
Yahoo - Mark Porter, 29, and 24-year-old Michelle Clydesdale died after they left their hotel in the resort of Salou, near Tarragona, to go swimming in the early hours of Wednesday. They were with three other friends when they got into trouble and drowned.
Ms Clydesdale was from Scotland but it is not known where Mr Porter was from in the UK. A spokeswoman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: "We can confirm the death of two British nationals (Mark Porter and Michelle Clydesdale) in Salou, Spain. "The next of kin have been informed and we are offering consular assistance to them.
We understand that they went swimming and got into difficulties." It is understood the pair were found on the beach after being washed up by large waves. Their bodies were taken to the regional capital of Tarragona on the north-eastern coast of Spain for post-mortem examinations.
They went missing shortly before 2.30am and their three friends raised the alarm. The local fire department said the weather was stormy at the time, with waves some 7ft high
