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Hiker dies Vandalised
A 33-YEAR-OLD Spanish man died on Saturday, August 12, after falling around 40 metres in the Tramuntana Mountains.
He was with a group of fellow hikers in Fornalutx. Around 9am, it appeared that he leaned over a precipice, slipped and fell.
The emergency services were called immediately. Fire brigade and Guardia Civil rescue units went to the scene, and a Guardia helicopter was called. However, all that the helicopter could do was to recover the hiker’s body.
He has been named as Lluis Martínez Castañer. From Soller, he was well known in the town for a fruit and vegetable stall he had at the market. He was passionate about the mountains and mountain activities. On learning the news, the Balearic Mountaineering Foundation posted a message on social media mourning his loss and adding: “The mountains are beautiful, but at the same time they can be cruel and merciless.”
Jo Pugh
TWO historic watchtowers in the municipality of Andratx have been vandalised with graffiti. On Saturday, August 12, the paintings were discovered on an annex of the tower at Cala En Basset, above Sant Elm.
This was announced by Andratx Council, who condemned “these acts of vandalism”. According to the town hall, the responsible department in the council has already written a report that will now be
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forwarded to the Mallorca Island Council so that it can take the next steps in removing it.
The Cala En Basset tower was not the only one in the municipality to be defaced in August. Earlier this month graffiti was noticed on the tower of Cap Andritxol.
The town hall published an appeal calling on the population to preserve the historical treasures of the place. These are “part of all citizens and stand for the history of our island and our ancestors,” it stated.
AROUND a month after the responsibilities in the island council of Mallorca passed from the socialists to the conservative people’s party PP, it has become known that there are about 4,000 files in the tourism department that have not yet been processed. The oldest have been there since 2021. The new team of the PP found around 1,600 paper files in one room of the headquarters of the tourist department alone. The digitisation of files will now be outsourced in order to get rid of the paper.
Jo Pugh
THE Guardia Civil have arrested a middleaged man of Spanish nationality, accused of theft at the Safari Zoo in sa Coma, in the municipality of Sant Llorenç des Cardessar. The investigation began at the end of July, following a complaint filed by one of the managers of the facilities.
Protecting Posidonia
OVER the past six years, the Posidonia Surveillance Service of the Balearic government has been actively working to prevent the anchoring of vessels in posidonia sea grass meadows, which is prohibited by law.
According to the environment ministry, anchoring is generally wellregulated due to a high level of awareness. Nonetheless, violations still occur, and during this summer, environmental officers have handled 38 cases of such infringements.
The service operates a fleet of six boats deployed across different areas of Mallorca. Its primary objective is to raise awareness and educate people about the significance of posidonia sea grass while advocating for responsible anchoring practices.
Officers engage with boat users, providing them with essential information. Throughout the summer season, over 3,600 notifications were issued. The largest share of these notifications (1,125) pertained to the Calvia coastline, which experiences the highest concentration of boats and consequently, the greatest number of violations.
Following Calvia, the areas of Andratx and Portocolom rank next in terms of infringements. In the southern region near Es Trenc, there has been relatively less necessity for information sharing.
