Body found in search for tourist

Mrs Owen was said to be 'acting strangely' before she disappeared

The daughter of a south Wales tourist missing on Gran Canaria has confirmed that her family have been told by Spanish authorities that a body has been found.

Nicola Owen said authorities could not confirm until after tests whether the body is that of her mother Eileen Owen, 53, from Abercynon.

Mrs Owen disappeared 12 days ago during a holiday with her husband. Her daughter was told the body was found less than half a mile from her parents' apartment.

The news was broken to Ms Owen by her brother in a phone call on Wednesday night from Gran Canaria after he was himself informed by police

The worst is not knowing Eileen Owen's daughter, Nicola

The missing woman's brother and sister were going ahead with plans to fly out to the island on Thursday, she said.

Posters of Mrs Owen had been distributed on Gran Canaria

Ms Owen has been unable to speak to her father, who has remained on the island to help in the extensive police search for his wife.

Asked whether she feared the body was that of her mother she said: "The worst is not knowing".

Ravine bottom

Forensic tests are now being carried out on the body, Spanish police have confirmed.

The body was discovered at the bottom of a ravine in the resort of Puerto Rico, they said.

Mrs Owen, went missing on the Canary Island on 18 July, a couple of days before the couple were due to return home to south Wales.

Her husband Michael, who is also 53, awoke around 0100 BST in their apartment to find her gone.

Eileen Owen photographed in Gran Canaria shortly before she disappeared

In the UK, the Foreign Office confirmed that remains had been found but said they had not been identified.

Mrs Owen's children, Neil, 29, and Nicola, 35, had earlier flown to the island to assist their father and the police in the search.

A helicopter had been used and a photograph of the missing tourist had been distributed around the south on the island and also shown on local TV.

The Owens had gone to Puerto Rico in Gran Canaria for a week's holiday.

Mrs Owen, a receptionist at the art and design college in Pontypridd, did not take any money, clothes or her passport with her when she disappeared.

On that night Mrs Owen went out for a meal, but was said to have been in a strange mood and did not eat or drink anything.