Tragedy on north coast with one dead and one missing after bathers get into difficulty

[Janet]

Only yesterday, emergency services were reporting that six people, four of them lifeguards, had been rescued and were safe after getting into difficulty at Playa Jardín in Puerto de la Cruz, and now today tragedy has struck further along the north coast with the death of a swimmer from cardiac arrest – an indicator of cold water shock – at Los Barqueros in Buenavista at 10.40 this morning.

Paramedics were unsuccessful in their attempts to resuscitate the bather, of whom there are no details as yet. A second swimmer is missing, and two helicopters are currently engaged in searching the west and north coasts. Also involved in the search are a Salvamento Marítimo lifeboat, the Consorcio de Bomberos, the Guardia Civil, and SUC ambulances and paramedics are on standby. JA

[Janet]

A second body has now sadly been found, the father of the swimmer pulled from the water this morning. The two men were 48 and 18 years old, and both are said to have died from cardiac arrest. Waters are technically "cold" around Tenerife even at the hottest part of the summer, and although very inviting when Spring starts to get warm, as it is now, are even colder, and a hazard for those who might not be the strongest swimmers, or those who swim when the sea is heavy. A sad day for Tenerife's waters, and even more sadly, it won't be the last.

[Janet]

It has transpired that the two men were fishing from some rocks near the beach when the son fell in, and the father jumped in to try to save him. This echoes the tragedy at Playa Paraiso recently when two British women drowned after jumping in after their children fell into the sea from some rocks.

Clearly once in the water, several hazards come into play, not least cold water shock, or undertow or trauma injury which results in drowning, but the sea here is not just perilous for those who voluntarily go in to swim. There is no gentle lapping against the shore in the Canaries as there is in the shallow Mediterranean waters of the Greek islands. Rather we have the Atlantic ocean and it is often anything but gentle as it hits the volcanic rocks of the Canarian coastline ... and all too frequently can sweep people off rocks where they have been fishing or sunbathing.