The forecast was fulfilled. Between eight o'clock on Wednesday the 30th and nine o'clock on Thursday the 1st, the Red Cross ambulances attended a total of 20 interventions (one less than in 2007 and the same as in 2006), all of them mostly classified as health emergencies, although there were also some traffic accidents and aggressions, which totaled up to three, thus decreasing compared to last year.
Photos: Sergio Betancort
The Red Cross telephone rang almost continuously from the beginning of the device until it was terminated, without highlighting time slots due to its intensity. However, this increase could even be accidental, since many of the interventions had little or nothing to do with the New Year's celebrations. Most of them were health emergencies (many of them at home), 16, and it was Arrecife who this year brought together the largest volume of emergencies, 7, compared to 4 in Tías and Yaiza. Teguise and Haría registered 2, while San Bartolomé only 1 and Tinajo none. As expected, some of the health emergencies were linked to alcohol intake, without highlighting any due to its consequences.
Regarding the hours, the last call of 2008 to 928.81.22.22 was received at 23:20, due to an aggression in Arrecife, but the first of 2009 was only four minutes after the chimes, due to a health emergency in a home in the same municipality.
The Red Cross wanted to remember that, in addition to the emergencies covered during that night by the humanitarian institution, it would be necessary to add those attended by Emerlan and the Canary Emergency Service (SUC) itself, although the indications throughout the night suggest that the tone of tranquility was repeated for their resources.
Damage to an ambulance
The least pleasant part of the device organized by the Red Cross was taken by one of the ambulances of the entity, which due to the violence of some individual in Puerto del Carmen, ended up suffering damage to its bodywork and its front window.