An Irish man has been found dead at his Costa Blanca home, and his wife rushed to the hospital.
Police raced to the couple’s home on Wednesday morning after a call from a worried neighbour.
Initial reports described the pair as Irish and wrongly said the woman had died shortly after officers reached the scene.
In their first official comments today, the Civil Guard in Alicante said they were “English” and revealed the dead man’s wife was alive in hospital and her life was not in danger.
They subsequently confirmed both were actually Irish after being asked to double-check their nationalities.
Initial reports said the elderly couple had been found “semi-naked” inside their property on a road called Avenida Escorpiones, English for Scorpions Avenue, and forms part of the municipality of Torrevieja south of Alicante.
The man is understood to have been dead for some time and his wife was described as having “limitations” which haven’t yet been made fully clear.
Although initial reports pointed to the unnamed Irishman having “brain injuries” police said today they had found no signs of violence at the scene.
A spokesman for the Civil Guard said this morning: “The Alicante Civil Guard confirms that yesterday, December 3rd at around 11am, the death of a 72-year-old man was reported at his home in Orihuela Costa, where his wife, a 73-year-old woman who requires daily assistance, was present.
“The Pilar de la Horadada Judicial Police Team carried out a technical inspection of the scene, determining that there were no signs of foul play, and qualified medical personnel certified the man’s natural death.
No signs of violence were found on the individuals or in the home.
“The woman was taken by the health services to Torrevieja Hospital, where she remains, although her life is not in danger.
“Both are British nationals.”
The same spokesperson subsequently corrected the nationality information following press queries to say they were Irish.
It is not known where in Ireland they hail from.
In February, two British pensioners were found dead at a Costa Blanca home.
The bodies of the man and woman were discovered on February 13 at the residential property near the small town of San Fulgencio a 45-minute drive south of Alicante and around half an hour by car from the property where the latest grim find occurred.
Staff at a local council social services department are understood to have raised the alarm after the pair failed to answer their calls and they spotted part of a body lying on the floor inside the property.
Reports at the time said the man and woman suffered chronic illnesses and had been categorised by social services as “vulnerable.”