PHOTOS: SERGIO BETANCORT
Resuscitation attempts by health services for half an hour were unsuccessful.
Two young people, 16 and 28 years old, died this Saturday morning and another, 24 years old, was unharmed after falling into the water in Puerto Naos, Arrecife, inside the vehicle, a green, two-door Opel Calibra with license plate 5127-BJW, with which they were doing "donuts" in an esplanade adjacent to the area moments before.
According to emergency services and police sources, the three involved in the incident, which occurred around 08:30 in the morning, are young people between 16 and 24 years old, and of Colombian nationality, who minutes before the incident had been drinking at the Molino Verde establishment.
The national police officers who rescued the survivor.
The "Almirante Díaz Pimienta" Patrol Boat of the Maritime Service of the Civil Guard transferred the lifeless bodies.
Apparently, six agents in three Zetas of the National Police were identifying the occupants of an Opel Astra with which they were also doing donuts in the Factoría area. When the three occupants of the other vehicle realized the police presence, they started fleeing at full speed and ended up falling into the sea.
It was then that a fisherman raised the alarm at the police station, and the 091 Room notified the same agents in the area of what had happened. Immediately, four of the six national police officers jumped into the sea, fracturing one of the rear windows with the help of a flashlight and a crowbar.
The person who saved his life managed to get out of the car swimming, but there was no way to rescue the other two occupants.
Various units of the National Police Corps, Local Police of Arrecife and the Civil Guard - which is responsible for the instruction of the report as it is an event that occurred in a coastal demarcation - moved to the scene, together with the Firefighters, whose crane extracted the vehicle from the water.
The relatives and friends of the victims could not contain their tears when they learned of the tragedy.
For its part, the Canary Emergency Service (SUC), Red Cross and Lanzarote Emergency and Rescue (Emerlan) transferred various assistance ambulances, a medicalized one and a rescue car with divers to the area.
These, together with the aforementioned police officers, firefighters and agents of the Maritime Service of the Civil Guard who were in the vicinity, aboard the "Almirante Díaz Pimienta" Patrol Boat, came with a pneumatic zodiac managing to extract one of the deceased minutes later, and dedicated themselves to searching the area where the car fell in search of other possible victims.
Police and humanitarian work
Once the area was cordoned off, the health personnel practiced resuscitation techniques on the injured and the two deceased for half an hour, the maneuvers on these last two being totally unsuccessful.
As explained to lavozdelanzarote.com by the National Police agents themselves who intervened in the incident, and Local Police officers who were interested despite being off duty, the vehicle "fell headfirst, stood upright at about 5 meters deep, we went down on lung power, but the pressure", together with the loss of vision caused by the "unbearable" emission of liquids from the car when it was placed under water in a horizontal position, "made it impossible to rescue the other two occupants".
According to the national police officer who pulled the survivor out of the car, "I even grabbed another one by the arm, but the seat was stuck - the car was a three-door model - and he was trapped. I couldn't do anything", he lamented.
Half an hour later, it was even necessary to force an agent to give up his attempts to rescue those who had already died.
Despite the shock, the injured man, who was traveling in the back with one of the deceased, was unharmed, although he was finally transferred to the General Hospital of Lanzarote for a medical examination, while the two deceased died drowned inside the vehicle. Their lifeless bodies were transferred to the Forensic Deposit of the General Hospital of Lanzarote, for subsequent autopsy, although all indications point to them having died of asphyxiation by immersion.
The judicial commission appeared in Puerto Naos, with the forensic doctor and the judge of the Court of Instruction Number 4, the one on duty this weekend, proceeding to the removal of the corpses.
Identified
According to the Civil Guard, the deceased Colombian nationals are Diego Fernando Ramírez, 16 years old and resident of Caldera de Taburiente street (Arrecife) and Carlos Andrés Urbano Caicedo, 28 years old and resident of Alfonso XII street (Arrecife), both born in Cali.
For his part, the survivor was identified as Diego Fernando Renza Andrade, 24 years old, also a native of Colombia and resident of Arrecife.
In principle, it was considered that there were four young people involved, but finally police sources clarified that the fourth young man of Colombian nationality who threw himself into the water had done so in unison with the occupant who saved his life moments before, and that he returned to throw himself into the sea interfering with the rescue work, after the event occurred and with the intention of "helping to rescue his friends".
It so happens that this fourth involved party, Silverio C.C, was a cousin of one of the deceased and had been arrested a couple of weeks ago in the aforementioned Molino Verde establishment after [stabbing a compatriot in the ear->http://www.lavozdelanzarote.com/article.php3?id_article=3994&var_recherche=acuchilla+oreja].
The vehicle was quite damaged in the front, and was transferred to the municipal depot of Arrecife.
Lack of resources
In addition to emphasizing the work not only repressive but also humanitarian of the National Police, the event has revealed some discomfort among firefighters, who complained that, despite being on the scene promptly, they did not have the necessary equipment for underwater rescue, with the consequent need to call the divers of Emerlan and the Civil Guard, who "took about 45 minutes to appear and act".
Agents of the Civil Guard of the Organic Unit of Judicial Police of Costa Teguise, took charge of the police proceedings for these events, which will be delivered to the Court of Guard of Arrecife.
Donuts and drinking parties
Eyewitnesses assured that the vehicle plunged into the water after its occupants were performing the so-called donuts in a place that serves as a nightlife space every weekend, and where drinking parties are organized almost daily.
Several citizens have been denouncing for some time that more and more young people are engaged in these dangerous practices in the aforementioned esplanade of Puerto Naos. In addition, the latest police reports show the increasingly large presence of the Colombian community in the area.
It is not the first time that a vehicle has fallen into the water in this area of Arrecife, having registered at least [two other cases during this year->http://www.lavozdelanzarote.com/article.php3?id_article=1298&var_recherche=bomberos+sacan+a+flote+un+veh%EDculo+en+Puerto+Naos+], of course, on those occasions those who intentionally precipitated the cars into the sea intended to get rid of them after having stolen them and used them to commit some kind of criminal act.
