Two municipalities of Lanzarote are among the localities of the Canary Islands with the most deaths by drowning. This is reflected in the data from the collective Canarias 1.500 kilómetros de costa, which presented on the morning of this Friday a map of aquatic accidents in the archipelago for 2025.
In Lanzarote thirteen people died between January and December, while sixteen were injured and another eight had to be rescued. Throughout the year there were no deaths by drowning in La Graciosa.
Most drownings in Yaiza and Teguise
Most of the drownings in Lanzarote have been registered in the municipalities of Teguise and Yaiza. Only on the coast of Los Charcones, in Yaiza, two bathers died, one Spanish and an Italian, and two others had to be rescued throughout last year. One of the deceased in Los Charcones was an Italian fisherman residing in Lanzarote who was 27 years old and the other a 30-year-old.
In Yaiza, the death of a swimmer was also registered on Papagayo Beach and another on Playa Dorada, but there were also several rescues of fishermen, jet skiers and swimmers along its entire coastline.
Regarding Teguise, two foreign persons lost their lives on El Papelillo beach, in Famara, and two more deaths were registered, one in the Cueva del Agua area and a fourth of a fisherman in Las Cucharas.
In the municipality of Haría a fisherman died on the coast between Los Cocoteros and Charco del Palo, while on La Cantería beach a German swimmer died. There was also a rescue of a swimmer who was slightly injured on La Garita beach, in Arrieta.
In Arrecife two people died, one on Avenida de la Mancomunidad and another at Muelle Deportivo, while a swimmer was in serious condition on La Concha beach.
Meanwhile, Tías registered the death of a swimmer in Matagorda, two rescues of divers, one serious swimmer, and several rescues of swimmers and paddle surfers in Puerto del Carmen.
Finally, a fatality was also registered in Tinajo, in the pool of the complex on Krogager Avenue.
241 aquatic accidents throughout the Canary Islands
This statistical analysis, which has been prepared for the tenth consecutive year, revealed that there is a total of 140 beaches, coastal points and swimming pools (to a lesser extent) where a total of 241 aquatic accidents were registered. In a press release, it has reported that these accidents are distributed in 46 of the 88 Canarian municipalities.
In about thirty municipalities of the archipelago was registered throughout the past year, at least one death.
Of the 241 aquatic accidents registered by the collective in the archipelago, sixteen of the injured were in critical condition, twenty-five serious, seventy moderate, 32 minor, and 29 were rescued unharmed. These data have been released by Sebastián Quintana, director of the study and president of Canarias, 1,500 kilometers of coast, along with the managing director Eco Puertos Autonómicos de Canarias and director of the Elder Museum of Science and Technology, José Gilberto Moreno; Pablo Rodríguez, general director of Presidency of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria; Carlos Esquivel, deputy director of Civil Protection and Emergencies of the Government of Canarias; Ángel Sabroso, counselor of Physical Activity and Sports of the Government of Canarias and Andrés Caballero, head of the Technical Unit of Ciudad de Mar of the City Council of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
In total, 69 deaths by drowning among bathers have been registered, three fewer fatalities than in the same period of the year 2024. However, the number of those affected by this type of aquatic accidents has grown by 30%.
The majority of those affected have been bathers, at 67% of the total; followed by 9% who were doing water sports; or 8% who were performing an unknown activity or who were fishing. Meanwhile, 4% fell into the water due to a rogue wave, a slip from the pier, from falling from a cliff or from a promenade, and even athletes who were paragliding or manning boats. In contrast, scuba diving only accounts for 1% of these accidents.
By nationalities, seventeen of the identified deceased were foreigners: British (four); Romanians (three); Poles (two); Italians (two), German (one); Belgian (one); Moroccan (one); Indian (one); Dutch (one); Slovak (one); foreigners without specified nationality (five); Spanish (four) and victims of unknown nationality (42).
Four deceased minors: the highest figure of the last ten years
Throughout the past year, nineteen minors suffered some type of accident in Canarian aquatic spaces. In total, four of them lost their lives, the highest figure of the decade; four remained in critical condition, another four serious, five moderate; one minor and only one was unharmed.
Likewise, 38% of the deaths registered last year (26) were adult bathers; 30% (21) were over 60 years old; 26% of them, victims of unknown age (18).
The beaches register 50% of the accidents
Beaches repeated as the environment with the highest accident rate (50%), followed by ports/coastal areas (26%), natural pools (16%), and swimming pools (8%).
60% of accidents occurred in the afternoon; 28%, in the morning. 10% were registered without specifying the time of the event; only 2% of incidents took place at night.
Fatal accident rate by Islands
Tenerife, the island that registered the most deaths (24), as well as total affected (101): In addition to the deaths, 64 injured of various consideration and 13 rescues, located on 53 beaches and points in 16 municipalities.
Gran Canaria, with 54 affected: 17 deceased, 34 injured and 2 rescues in 31 beaches and points of 8 municipalities.
Lanzarote, 37 total victims: 13 deceased, 16 injured of varying severity and 8 rescues, in 21 beaches and points of 6 municipalities.
Fuerteventura, 28 affected: 6 deceased, 17 injured and 5 rescues, located on 22 beaches and points in 4 municipalities.
La Palma, 10 affected: 2 deceased, 7 injured and 1 rescue, in 7 beaches and coastal points of 6 municipalities.
La Gomera, 6 victims: 3 deceased and 3 injured on 5 beaches and points in 4 municipalities.
El Hierro, 5 victims: 3 deceased and 2 injured registered in 2 coastal points/municipalities.
La Graciosa did not register incidents.
Figures by municipalities and beaches
It is the municipalities of Santiago del Teide (which registered the greatest tragedy in the aquatic environment of the last twenty years) and Adeje (Tenerife) that hold the highest number of deaths of 2025, with 7 people in each one.
They are followed by Teguise and Yaiza (Lanzarote), Gáldar, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and San Bartolomé de Tirajana in Gran Canaria (4 each).
The beaches and coastal points that totaled the most fatal drownings were: the natural pool of Isla Cangrejo (Tenerife) with 6 registered deaths and El Charco Manso (El Hierro) with 3 fatalities.
The beach of El Papelillo and Los Charcones (Lanzarote), the Charco del Viento and Fañabé beach (Tenerife) and the coast of Botija in Gran Canaria: 2 deceased at each beach/point.
Those that garnered the most total affected were the natural pool of Isla Cangrejo (12) followed by Almáciga beach and the coast of Puerto de la Cruz in Tenerife, respectively (10 each); Las Canteras beach in Gran Canaria (7) and Puerto del Carmen in Fuerteventura (6).
Almost a third of the year with warnings for coastal phenomena
For 112 days of last 2025, alerts and/or pre-alerts were activated due to adverse coastal phenomena in the Islands, a period in which 46% of the total deaths occurred.
This initiative, promoted by the Association for the Prevention of Drownings `Canary Islands, 1500 Km of Coast´, has the sponsorship of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, the Elder Museum of Science and Technology, the Vice-Ministry of Physical Activity and Sports of the Government of the Canary Islands, with the collaboration of the Ministry of Territorial Policy, Territorial Cohesion and Water of the Government of the Canary Islands, the departments of Tourism and City of Sea of the City Council of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Binter.
