Spanish police initially said they were questioning his brother-in-law after an alleged fight at a hotel, but later said his death was not being treated as criminal.

Stephen Storey, 47, had gone to the Catalan capital with his brother-in-law, David Brennan, but died on the first night of their long weekend break.

Father-of-two Mr Brennan, 49, lives just a few hundred yards away from his sister and brother-in-law in Neath.

The family said the football fanatics flew to Barcelona for a stag weekend and to watch the city’s superstars in a match tonight.

Mr Brennan’s father, also David, 69, said: “It is just unbelievable to realise that one of the boys is dead after going to Spain for a fun weekend.

“They ran a local football team together and were really good friends and drinking buddies.

“David is a big Chelsea fan while Steve supported Liverpool. They always had a lot of banter about soccer.

“The lads flew out and were looking forward to a great weekend at the stag do of their friend, who is from Glasgow.

“We don’t know exactly what happened – we are only getting little bits of information. But we’ve heard something went on outside the hotel and in a room. But my understanding is that David will be released in a couple of days.”

Mr Brennan, a father of three, lives with wife Alison in a smart semi-detached house just a few hundred yards from Mr Storey’s home, which he shared with partner, Clare Brennan, 42, who is Mr Brennan’s sister.

The couple have been together for 16 years and have two children, Amelia, nine, and Sean, 11.

Mr Storey also has two children from a previous relationship, daughter, Kadie, 25, and son Ben, 20.

The men were planning on watching Barcelona versus Athletico Madrid at the Nou Camp.

Mr Storey took time off from his job as a print manager at Viscose Closures in Swansea and Mr Brennan from his job as a manager at building supplies company Taylor Maxwell in Cardiff.

A colleague said: “Stephen was a lovely guy, hard working and a big sports fan.

“He loved his football and was a golfer.

“He was going to Barcelona to go to the Nou Camp and watch a game.

“Steve was in work on Wednesday and he was really looking forward to going away.

“He was a hard-working guy and had been with the company for three or four years.

“Steve was a typical, ordinary family man and he was well liked by everyone who worked here.

“This is a great shock to us all. It seems so strange that someone you work with every day you will never see again.

“The police came into the factory and simply told us Steve had died in Spain, they didn’t tell us any more details.”

Mr Storey’s family live in Liverpool.

Police were called to the Hotel Silken, just off the Catalan capital’s famous Ramblas, just after 2am on Thursday.

A police spokeswoman in Spain said they had questioned a 49-year-old man after a fight.

However, they later said they were not treating the cause of death as criminal.

via WalesOnline.

Former chip shop owner Stephen Shaw, 48, had a heart attack and died days after their Spanish holiday in March.

Cops are now probing claims by widow Carol, 52, that some of his pals have also died.

She said: “We don´t know what´s happened other than several came back and have passed away. We are trying to get over it a little bit and then get smacked in the nose again.”

She told local councillor Grace Brown after hearing of other deaths among the pals from Barnsley, South Yorks – although no specific names were mentioned.

Coun Brown passed the information to the local coroner.

She said: “A happy, fit husband was going on holiday one minute and then he´s died, then his friends die one by one.

“It beggars belief. Mrs Shaw was very upset when she told me about it. I heard it could be as many as six. It seems to me that it´s much more than a coincidence and that an investigation is necessary.

“The deaths could have been missed because the coroner would not have known the men had been on holiday together.”

Barnsley Coroner´s Office has asked police to investigate the claims on their behalf.

A spokesman said: “I don´t know the names of all of those involved. We hope to hear from the police by the end of next week regarding their investigation.

“All of the evidence will then be passed on to the coroner who will make a decision on how to act from there. It is highly unusual.”

Chief Insp Shaun Morley, of South Yorkshire Police, said: “We were made aware of this matter in the last few days.

“Since then officers have carried out a number of preliminary inquiries.”

via The Sun.

A man has been gored to death during a running of the bulls festival at a town in central Spain.

The 41-year-old carpenter was gored in the chest and died in an ambulance on the way to hospital, said Jesus Hijosa, mayor of Villaseca de la Sagra, south of Madrid.

The town near Toledo had been celebrating to honour the Virgin Mary when the accident happened.

Bullfights and the bull runs that often precede them have been the focus of attention after north-eastern Catalonia this year became the second

via The Press Association: Man gored to death in bull run.

Spain´s Interior Ministry says a passenger train has crashed into a dump truck working on the future bullet train link with Portugal, killing two people and injuring three others.

A regional spokeswoman said the collision happened near the outhwestern town of Carmonita, 90 kilometers (56 miles) from the border with Portugal, at about 1 p.m. today. She says emergency services are working to clear the wreckage.

She says one of the dead was a woman passenger aboard the train, the other the truck driver. She spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with ministry rules.

Bullet trains are scheduled to travel from Portugal´s capital, Lisbon, to Madrid in under three hours by 2014 despite budget cuts caused by the financial crisis.

via Train crashes into truck in Spain; 2 dead, 3 hurt | The Jakarta Post.

A police officer was killed and another injured during an attempted bank robbery in Galicia in northwest Spain, police said today.

Shots were fired early today between a police patrol and two bank robbers, who were trying to break into a branch of the Caixa Galicia bank in Caniza, in Pontevedra province, a police spokesman said.

One officer was killed and another injured, while one of the robbers was injured and arrested. The other fled the scene, police said.

via Police officer dead in Spanish bank heist < Spanish news | Expatica Spain.

A bacterial disease has killed more than 100 deer in northern Spain, officials said yesterday.

The bodies of the animals were found on hunting grounds in the provinces of Zamora and Leon. They had died of pasteurellosis, which affects the respiratory organs of animals, the sources said.

Opposition representatives put the number of dead deer at more than 300. They accused the regional authorities of not removing the bodies in time, thus creating the risk that the disease could spread.

via Disease kills more than 100 deer in Spain | Earth Times News.

Flooding sparked by heavy rains has killed three people in the southern Spanish province of Cordoba, police said today.

Two of the victims were travelling in a four-wheel drive vehicle which was swept away by floods near Aguilar de la Frontera overnight. The bodies of the man and woman were found this morning.

The third person, a man, was killed by a wall which collapsed because of the rains in Bujalance.

Flooding also hampered rail traffic and blocked roads. Rescuers attended to several motorists who had got stuck inside their vehicles.

via Flooding kills three in southern Spain | Earth Times News.

Two of the victims were travelling in a four-wheel drive vehicle which was swept away by floods near Aguilar de la Frontera overnight. The bodies of the man and woman were found Tuesday morning.

The third person, a man, was killed by a wall which collapsed because of the rains in Bujalance.

Flooding also hampered rail traffic and blocked roads. Rescuers attended to several motorists who had got stuck inside their vehicles.

via Earth Times News.

A would-be illegal immigrant drowned and seven others are missing after their small boat capsized off eastern Spain, maritime rescue services said today.

Ten immigrants of Algerian origin were on the boat that sank Wednesday off the tiny Spanish island of Tabarca, near the eastern city of Alicante, sources in the maritime rescue service said.

Two of them were rescued while the body of a third was recovered. The search continued for the seven others.

The service also said in a statement that it had rescued 25 men of Algerian origin travelling in a boat off the southeastern coastal town of Mojacar, and a further 10 migrants in two boats near the southern town of Tarifa.

It said that all those rescued appeared to be in good health.

Spain has been a magnet in recent years for African migrants aspiring to reach Europe. Authorities fear many of those who attempt the crossing by sea die of thirst, hunger or exposure.

But the number arriving by sea last year fell by 45 percent compared with 2008, according to the government.

It attributed the fall to the economic crisis in Spain as well as better policing of the waters around the country and cooperation with the immigrants´ countries of origin in sub-Saharan Africa.

via One dead, seven missing after migrant boat sinks off Spain < Spanish news | Expatica Spain.

Two people died and another was injured in a fire on Wednesday at the Huelva refinery in Spain run by oil firm Cepsa, a company official said.

The official was unable to say whether production had been affected at the refinery in southeast Spain, which normally processes about 100,000 barrels of crude oil a day.

“The fire broke out on the production line into a tank. Plant and local firemen are working to put out the fire,” he said by telephone, adding the fire had since been extinguished.

Television pictures earlier showed plumes of smoke rising from the refinery and a worker being taken on board a helicopter on a stretcher.

“Cepsa expresses its deepest sympathy to the victims´ families and is at their and the authorities´ service in order to explain the events,” the company said in a statement.

Cepsa owns three of Spain´s 10 oil refineries.

via UPDATE 3-Two dead, two hurt in Spain refinery fire -Cepsa | Energy & Oil | Reuters.