CNN.com - Stranded Spain MP�describes Katrina chaos - Sep 1, 2005

(CNN) -- A Spanish member of parliament stranded in New Orleans has described a dire situation at the city's Convention Center, including dead bodies inside the building.

Lourdes Muñoz Santamaria, her husband and his 10-year-old son were on vacation in New Orleans and were unable to get a flight out of the city before Hurricane Katrina struck.

They ended up at the New Orleans Convention Center, where Muñoz has used a pay phone to make several calls to a journalist friend in Madrid to describe the conditions. (See the video report of thousands stranded among filth and corpses -- 2:54)

The journalist, Montserrat Boix of Spain's state television TVE, said Muñoz told her the situation at the center was steadily deteriorating and that authorities were unaware of the magnitude of the problem.

According to Boix, Muñoz said dead bodies were inside the center and others were outside, with no one removing them.

Muñoz also told Boix there was no water at the center, and that when a few evacuation buses pulled up to the center Wednesday, there was a scramble to get aboard and only the strongest made it, because no authorities were on hand to direct a more-orderly evacuation.

Muñoz told Boix she and her family moved to an upper floor of the center because of what they regarded as aggressive tension on the lower floor.

Muñoz estimated there were thousands of people at the center.

Spain's state news agency EFE reported Thursday that Muñoz also had contacted the Spanish Embassy in Washington to make it aware of her situation and to seek assistance to be evacuated. (Watch the video report on FEMA's scaled-back evacuation plans -- 2:34)

Muñoz is an MP from Barcelona for Spain's Socialist Party.