Man drowns trying to save girl in Spanish flash floods

MADRID (AFP) - A Spanish man drowned in a failed attempt to rescue a nine-year-old girl who became trapped inside a car during flash flooding in south-eastern Spain, a local official said on Sunday.

The girl was travelling with her grandfather and 11-year-old brother when their vehicle was caught in rapidly rising flood waters on Friday near the town of Puerto Lambreras, an official with the town hall said.

A 60-year-old man - identified by Spanish media as Juan Asensio - tried to rescue the girl but he was swept away by the flood waters and died, he added. The girl and her grandfather also drowned but the 11-year-old boy survived, reportedly by holding on to a lamppost.

"Three people died. We are still not sure how the boy managed to survive," said the official with the town hall of Puerto Lambreras who asked not to be named in line with the municipality's policy.