Panic in Canary islands as men swept to sea in Lanzarote days after Tenerife deaths

Another three people have been injured after being swept into the sea at a popular Canary Islands holiday beach.

The men have been taken to hospital following the new drama at a popular tourist spot called Los Charcones in Lanzarote.

None of their injuries have been described as life-threatening but the incident comes after two days after three people died and 15 were injured in Tenerife following the issuing of weather warnings about high waves. A Dutch woman aged 79 who had just disembarked from a cruise liner that had docked on the island was killed and nine other people including many from the same ship were knocked off their feet and thrown into the sea in the northern port of Puerto de la Cruz on Saturday afternoon.

A fisherman died after suffering the same fate at a natural complex of pools called Charco del Viento a short drive west of Puerto

de la Cruz.

The same day six French tourists also ended up in the ocean as they wave-watched in Roque de las Bodegas on the island's north-east tip but luckily they all survived.

Emergency responders said today the Lanzarote scare had occurred at Los Charcones in the municipality of Yaiza, near to the tourist resort of Playa Blanca, just before midday.

A spokesman for a regional government-run emergency services co-ordination centre said the casualties were three men aged 43, 25, and 23.

The youngest one was taken to a health centre in Playa Blanca, the southernmost town in Lanzarote, and the other two were rushed by ambulance Doctor Jose Molina Orosa Hospital in the island capital Arrecife.

Their nationalities have not yet been released, although one unconfirmed local report said they were Catalan and French.

The emergency services spokesman said: "The alert we received was that four people had been swept into the sea by a wave.

"They were already out of the water by the time the first responders arrived on the scene and firefighters helped medical staff as the injured men were in an area that was difficult to access.

"One of the four was unharmed but the men aged 43 and 25 were taken to hospital and the younger man aged 23 to Playa Blanca Health Centre."

The three men are said to have suffered impact injuries.

Los Charcones, a five-minute drive from Playa Blanca, are one of the most beautiful areas of natural swimming pools in the Canary Islands.

In good weather conditions, they are the perfect spot for relaxing swims. The area can be accessed by foot along a dirt track to the north of the Pechiguera lighthouse, which runs close to the coast.

Although three people were killed and 15 people were injured in Tenerife at the weekend in incidents blamed on the large waves crashing onto the coastline, an emergency rescue also took place on the Canary Island of La Palma.

Emergency responders said the three people saved were holding onto a buoy at Bajamar Beach in the municipality of Brena Alta when they were saved, just after midday on Sunday.

The Tenerife dramas occurred on Saturday.

The third of the people who lost their lives in the sea at Tenerife on Saturday was a man whose nationality has not yet been made public.

He said to have been in cardiac arrest when he was pulled out of the sea at El Cabezo beach in Granadilla, around 2pm, with efforts to revive him failing.

Local authorities say he was "found floating in the water" and have not clarified yet whether he ended up in the ocean in the same circumstances as those swept off their feet by large waves.
Before Saturday's tragic day in Tenerife, Canary Islands officials had reminded locals and holidaymakers to exercise "maximum caution at the coast" with warnings waves battering coastal resorts could reach up to 15ft.

They said: "Don't stand at the end of piers or breakwaters, and do not risk taking photographs or videos near where the waves break."

Video footage emerged yesterday showing the moment the Dutch tourist was killed and nine other people were hurt.
The shocking video showed they were clearly putting their lives in danger by standing where they were on the seawall at Puerto de la Cruz.

A woman could be heard yelling in Spanish: 'Look, look, look, now, now' as the wave approached and knocked both the four people standing on the upper part of the protective wall and a larger group below them into the water. Some were on the stairs between the two when the wave came crashing over them.

One social media user, commenting before the full scale of the tragedy became apparent, said: "I hope they all made it."

Pedro Lopez, a waiter working near the scene of the tragedy where the unnamed Dutch pensioner was killed who risked his life by jumping into the water to save some of the casualties, said: "Normally when a pre-alert like this is in place there's a barrier that's always closed preventing access to the area where this occurred.

"I don't know what happened but the barrier was left open."

He told a Canary Islands radio station: "The barrier was open and what happened happened.

"I saw eight people on top of the wall and the first wave didn't reach them.

"The second wave threw them on the ground and swept them away.

"I began to run and I saw three people screaming for help and took my clothes off and jumped into the water.

"It was nerve-wracking but I'm okay and I could get them out.

"What people on holiday want is entertainment and it's entertaining to see waves of up to 15 feet, but it can also be very deadly.

"The barrier should have been in place to stop them being where they were."

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