'How many more deaths? Get out!': Spanish PM Sanchez, King Felipe VI heckled, pelted with mud by angry crowd

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and King Felipe VI were ridiculed on Sunday as they visited the flood-hit areas with distressed people pelting mud and calling them “assassins”.

King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia visited the town of Paiporta, one of the most affected by the floods that have killed more than 200 people, alongside Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and other officials.

While Spain’s top leadership came under scrutiny, the crowd’s anger was mostly directed at Sanchez and the head of the Valencia region, Carlos Mazon. “Mazon resign!” some shouted. “How many deaths?! Out!”

Sánchez was evacuated from the scene, according to Spanish broadcaster RTVE, when the official contingent started to walk the mud-covered streets of Paiporta, one of the hardest hit areas where over 60 people perished and thousands of lives were shattered.

The King, however, refused to leave despite being asked to seek protection. King Felipe continued talking to the affected residents with speckles of mud on his face. One person appeared to have wept on his shoulder. He shook the hand of a man.

Meanwhile, the queen, along with Mazon spoke to women with small glops of mud on her hands. “We don´t have any water,” one woman told the queen.

The floods in Spain are one of the deadliest natural disasters the country has seen in the recent past and it has claimed the lives of over 200 people with several still missing.

The floods had started filling Paiporta with crashing waves when the regional officials issued an alert to mobile phones that sounded two hours too late.

And more anger has been fueled by the inability of officials to respond quickly to the aftermath. Most of the cleanup of the layers and layers of mud and debris that have invaded countless homes has been done by residents and thousands of volunteers.

With inputs from agencies