The Minister of Territorial Policy, Territorial Cohesion and Water, Manuel Miranda, has expressed the concern of the Government of the Canary Islands about "the high accident rate that continues to be recorded on the beaches and bathing areas of the islands, and especially for the tragic start to the year that we are experiencing, with six bathers dead in less than a month." He said this after meeting this Wednesday with Sebastián Quintana, president of the Association for the Prevention of Accidents in the Aquatic Environment `Canarias, 1500 Km de Costa`, in a working meeting that was attended by the general director of Emergencies, Fernando Figuereo.
Manuel Miranda agreed with Quintana in highlighting that all the fatal incidents have occurred with pre-alerts declared, which is indicative of the imprudence that continues to be committed, and insisted on the need to exercise extreme caution at sea and respect the warnings of the civil protection authorities.
Both the Minister and the General Director of Emergencies thanked "the commendable informative task" that `Canarias, 1500 Km de Costa` has been carrying out in this regard for the last ten years, and confirmed that this year there will be a new citizen awareness campaign in the media and social networks, also aimed at the millions of tourists who visit us.
For his part, Sebastián Quintana stressed, precisely, that most of the fatalities are foreigners visiting the islands, and raised the need to activate "a new strategy aimed at generating a culture and water safety that involves the entire tourism sector and the different government departments with powers in matters not only of emergencies, but also of education, health and tourism."
Tragic January
Six people, aged between 49 and 80 years old, have died during this month of January in incidents recorded on the Canary Islands coasts and during situations of pre-alerts for coastal phenomena declared by the General Directorate of Emergencies of the Government of the Canary Islands. During this same period, the Coordinating Center for Emergencies and Security (CECOES) 112 of the Government of the Canary Islands has registered 33 incidents on the coasts of the islands related to bathers who have had difficulties getting out of the water, as well as fishermen or athletes who have been in trouble due to the sea's battering.
The first death occurred on El Berial beach, in the municipality of Adeje, in Tenerife, when several lifeguards rescued a man from the water in cardiorespiratory arrest on January 13. The next day, another man was rescued from the sea on the beach of Puerto Naos, in Los Llanos de Aridane, in La Palma, in cardiorespiratory arrest and, despite the advanced resuscitation maneuvers carried out by personnel from the Canary Emergency Service (SUC), his death was confirmed. On the 16th, the emergency services assisted a woman on Esmeralda beach, in Pájara, in Fuerteventura, who was in distress about 20 meters from the shore. After being rescued, health personnel confirmed her death after performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation maneuvers. On January 18, a fisherman died after falling into the sea off the coast of San Andrés y Sauces, in La Palma, and on the 21st a bather died on the sand of Santiago beach, in Alajeró, in La Gomera, after being rescued from the water in cardiorespiratory arrest. This Sunday, January 26, a bather died in the area of natural pools in the barranquillo del Vino, in Gáldar, in Gran Canaria.
At this time, there is an active search device for a person who fell into the sea off the coast of Haría.
All these incidents recorded on the coasts of the islands have coincided with declarations of pre-alert situations due to coastal phenomena by the General Directorate of Emergency of the Government of the Canary Islands, a situation that is maintained at that time throughout the archipelago.
For this reason, the Executive asks the population to take extreme precautions and stresses the importance of following the recommendations issued by the General Directorate of Emergencies to prevent any type of incident on the coast, such as avoiding being at the end of docks or breakwaters, not fishing in risk areas, not bathing on secluded beaches, on beaches with a red flag or in areas where there is strong waves and undertow, among others.
