A research boat will scan the seabed to help search for those missing in Spain's floods

A Spanish research vessel that investigates marine ecosystems has been abruptly diverted from its usual task to help in the increasingly desperate search for the missing from Spain’s floods. The 24 crew members aboard the Ramón Margalef were preparing Friday to use its sensors and submergible robot to map a huge offshore area to see if they can locate vehicles that last week’s catastrophic floods swept into the Mediterranean Sea. The hope is that a map of sunken vehicles could lead to the recovery of bodies. Nearly a hundred people have been officially declared missing. The boat will join a wider effort by police and soldiers who have expanded their searches for bodies beyond the devastated towns and streets.