The NGO EMERLAN (Emergencies and Rescue Lanzarote) wants to respond to certain statements and comments that have appeared in the media, both print and radio, following the serious accident that occurred last weekend and resulted in the death of a 5-year-old boy, to whose family we offer our condolences.
While it is true that we have never made a public statement in this regard, this time we have considered it necessary because of the offensive, vile, uninformed and malicious nature of these comments and statements (including some of the private divers who participated in the recovery of the child) and the emotional impact it has had on all the volunteers of this NGO, people who steal time from their families to dedicate it to serving others, have made it relevant.
We therefore want to make clear our actions in the incident last Friday.
First: the EMERLAN underwater rescue group is composed of volunteer divers (mostly instructors with years of experience) who do not perform on-site duty 24 hours a day, but respond to emergency calls, traveling from their homes or wherever they are. Therefore, there are response times appropriate to this circumstance and which are known by those who have the power to activate us in an emergency, and, therefore, in an accident such as the one mentioned, they can easily be placed in 15 or 20 minutes. Circumstance presented on Friday night.
Second: we are an auxiliary support and reinforcement group (aware of its functional limitations) to those who really have the legal competence to carry out this type of intervention in the submarine environment, which are the state security forces and corps, specifically the GEAS (Special Group of Underwater Activities of the Civil Guard), based in Las Palmas and with an obviously longer response time. This group is deployed when the emergency is not resolved at first, becomes too complicated or is prolonged in time, being them who direct the intervention at all times.
Given the specific situation in which Lanzarote finds itself in this regard, where Emerlan, the Red Cross and some other Civil Protection body (all volunteers and in the same response situation) have been the only ones to have underwater rescue groups to date, and that on countless occasions, for many years, we have carried out and resolved rescues of different sizes, the deployment of the Civil Guard and its diving group has not been necessary in many opportunities.
Third: incidents such as the one that occurred in the past has not been the first, and from EMERLAN we have always considered it ESSENTIAL that there be a body that is on duty 24 hours a day and that has the capacity to carry out an underwater rescue (whether it be Firefighters, Police, etc... with a minimum response time. But this, logically, is the responsibility of both the Island and National administration, therefore it is not and has not been in our hands to solve it.
Fourth: based on these premises, we will assume any failure or responsibility in our actions, as we have assumed to date, but we will not consent to offensive or insulting comments, totally unfounded and that have a purpose other than constructive criticism.
Fifth: congratulate those who carried out the recovery of the child's body for their altruism and courage.
Sixth: As we do not understand the fixation with EMERLAN when there were many more emergency means and resources in the area and as we are also open to anyone who wants to know us or know how we work and how we organize ourselves to come and visit us at our headquarters, where we will gladly assist you, because it is, in addition, what we like: to help.