Kitesurfer found after emergency services search off Los Abrigos

[Janet]

Emergency services have helped save the life this evening of a kitesurfer who got into difficulties off the coast of Los Abrigos. A GES helicopter and lifeboat joined the search for the 45-year-old man who was found with hypothermia and exhaustion after 6 hours in the water. He is, though, alive and well. JA

[Janet]

The windsurfer has been identified as Los Abrigos resident Michael Rausch, a German whose life was miraculously saved after being noticed floating in the water by a local resident, rather than emergency services who had been seeking him for several hours. His fellow surfers lost sight of him around 11am in El Médano, and lifeboats, Policía Local, Guardia Civil and a helicopter were all dispatched, but found no trace of him. It was just before 5pm that a Los Abrigos woman, Maribel Marcelino, spotted what looked like a body floating 100 or so metres from the coast. She called a pair of the village's fishermen who took a boat immediately, and found Michael Rausch, utterly exhausted but still alive: they hauled him, with some difficulty since he was unable to help them, into the boat and brought him into to the little harbour. He is said to be suffering from hypothermia, but will be fine. JA

[Michael]

Cue the German jokes.