Speaking of bombs

Workers found an unexploded bomb in the hotel Cano in Torrevieja yesterday. It is thought to have been placed there by members of ETA in May 1991. At that time the police received an anonymous call telling them of three bombs. One was found in a building in Santa Pola and another in the Hotel Marbella. Both of these were safely detonated but the one in the Hotel Cano was never found.

Plumbers, removing a false wall in the ladies' toilets at the Hotel Cano yesterday, found a suspicious package which could possibly be the unfound bomb. Specialist Technicians in Decontamination of "Artefactos Explosivos" (TEDAX) took the device to Alicante for analysis. The bomb had a timer, a battery and 1kilogramme of plastic explosive. However, it had deteriorated to the point where it was unlikely to explode.

The province of Alicante and particularly Torrevieja has always been a target for ETA within its strategy to affect tourism. In August of 2002,a hamburger cafe in Torrevieja was damaged by a device planted by the terrorists. The cafe had been evacuated safely before the explosion took place. In the summer of 2003 an activist of ETA, Olaya Castresana, died in La Mata when he accidentally set of a bomb in the flat where he and his girlfriend (also a member of ETA) lived.

The actions of ETA in the province go back to 1979 when they exploded two small devices in Benidorm. In 1981 hotels in Alicante, and Jávea were bombed. Four years later bombs were set off in a hotel at La Vila, in Benidorm, the ports of Altea and Jávea and in Trenet de La Vila. In 1991 a car bomb exploded in Mutxamel. In 2002 a car bomb exploded in front of the offices of the Guardia Civil in Santa Pola killing two people and injuring 30. The following year ETA detonated suitcase bombs in two hotels in Alicante and Benidorm injuring thirteen people. In 2004 another low power device exploded in Alicante and in 2005 there was a bomb in a hotel in Dénia,and another one in Villajoyosa.

In an area where they regularly set off fireworks, where they shoot game each weekend and which is prone to earthquakes it is hard to identify exactly what has caused of all the bangs and shudders that you hear and feel.

Along with the possibility of buying an illegal house or one which relies upon builder's electricity and water supply for years, these are things that they don't tell you about on your inspection trip. Just as well the advantages of living here outweigh the disadvantages!