THE WEATHER
www.thecourier.es
Edition 353
A
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AIR DEATH PLUNGE
65-year-old Scotsman, Donald Milne, died after a weekend air crash on the Costa Blanca. Mr. Milne, who was a former Scottish rally champion, was killed after his biplane was involved in a collision with an emergency helicopter at the Mutxamel aerodrome near Alicante City on Saturday afternoon (picture from the Información newspaper). The helicopter had been 30 feet above the ground and coming to land after being involved in the fighting of a forest fire in the north east Valencia region town of Culla. According to the Provincial Fire Brigade of Alicante, the "tail rotor of the helicopter was hit by the plane" and the helicopter
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Friday 5th January 2018
pilot's expertise made it possible to land, without the crew suffering any serious injury. Mr. Milne, who was originally from Banchory in Scotland and had been living in Spain for the last 20 years, received cardiopulmonary resuscitation until he regained consciousness, before his transfer to Alicante General Hospital, where he died later. His funeral took place on Tuesday, attended by his widow Fiona, and his two sons Freddie and Quintin. The helicopter was one of eight that had been used to stablilise the Culla fire that destroyed one-and-a-half square miles of trees. The state aviation safety agency has opened an investigation to find out what
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caused the crash. Mr. Milne won the Esso Scottish Rally Championship in 1991, and was known for having helped Colin McRae in his early years leading up to his world championship in 1995. Flying was said to be a
passion after his rallying career was over, and Mr Milne, used helicopters for business as well as fun, but was said to have preferred fixed-wing aircraft for leisure. He had recently purchased two craft at his Spanish base.
FALLING FIGURES
he official population of Orihuela has fallen to below 80 thousand residents, according to figures produced by the National Statistics Institute (INE). This confirms projections back in November, as previously reported in The Courier, with councillor Noelia Grao claiming this is impacting on services for the Orihuela Costa. The INE says the municipality has just over 76 thousand residents, taking it back to levels last seen in 2006, though Orihuela council says that another two thousand registrations need to be added to the final total. The number of
people registering on the municipal padrón is crucial for authorities like Orihuela in getting funding from the national government, and follows the falling trend also logged in neighbouring areas like Torrevieja. The biggest falls are on the Orihuela Costa, with a three thousand drop in those people registered, taking the figure to 28 thousand that are on the padrón. Around half of the fall is accounted by British residents no longer on the register, either because they have failed to renew or have left the area. The Información newspaper reports that an indicator of population is the number
of householders that are registered as users of water, with figures up to 10 thousand more than on the padrón. Orihuela's statistics councillor, Noelia Grao, told Información that the lack of padrón registration has been costing the Orihuela Costa dearly. For example, in the fact that the area
could have an extra health centre if everybody who lived there signed up to the register. Last March, Orihuela council launched a high-profile campaign aimed at getting non-Spaniards onto the municipal padrón, with reports that 1,200 people did register between May and September.
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