Carcaixent's Fallas are in mourning. Andrés Doménech Colom has died aged 46 from the injuries he suffered on 23 October, when he was hit while crossing a zebra crossing on Avenida Bressol de la Taronja on his way to the La Cadenera municipal centre, where the rehearsal for the town's falleras mayores presentation was being held.

A car had stopped to let him cross. A delivery motorbike then appeared from the side and struck him. Its rider tested negative for alcohol. Doménech was treated by an emergency crew and taken to the Hospital de la Ribera, where he could not recover from his injuries.

Doménech was closely tied to this year's fallero term: he was the father of the child escort, the boy who parades alongside the Fallera Mayor Infantil, who is also his niece, and the husband of a member of the court of honour of the fallera mayor. By family tradition he belonged to the Plaça les Dies commission, where he served first as children's president and later as president. He was the son of one of its founders.

The ceremony, postponed to 7 November

The accident had already forced the cancellation of the falleras mayores presentation scheduled for Saturday 24 October. The local fallas board (JLF) met the town's presidents the following Monday and agreed to allow a fortnight for the injured man's condition to evolve, with the ceremony initially rescheduled for 7 November.

"What nobody wanted to happen has happened," said JLF president Claudio Guerrero, who asked people to stand "alongside the family" at this time. The board expressed its condolences on social media: "Carcaixent's fallero family loses a much-loved person and a fallero who will always be part of our history."

The Plaça les Dies commission also paid tribute to its former president: "A much-loved part of our falla's history goes with him. We will always remember him with his smile and his way of understanding and living the festival."

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