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THE INDEPENDENT ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER WITH LOCAL, NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL NEWS
EDITION 596
FRIDAY 9th MARCH TO THURSDAY 22nd MARCH 2018 MOVIES AT ...
EATING OUT & ABOUT
PAGES PA 25 - 27
Your dining experience aroundd our o restaurants
FORTNIGHTLY SUPPLEMENT NT
property
PAGES 41 -48
guide
Dramatic rescues as Canaries mop up after STORM EMMA
Photos by Emergency service
Fire crews on the scene at the oil rig accident
T
The sunken boats in Gran Tarajal
ENERIFE fire brigade, both full-timers and volunteers, have been risking their own lives to save tourists in trouble.
There have been a number of dramatic rescues over the last week or so, not least during the atrocious weather conditions which Storm “Emma” brought to the islands. Fortunately, there were no fatalities in these incidents but those involved might find themselves with more than a shocking memory! If anyone is deemed to have got into trouble through their own reckless behaviour, they could be slapped with a bill to meet the costs of the emergency services. The authorities were none too happy with a group of eight young tourists who had to spend the night at the foot of the Masca ravine. They had managed to conquer the walk down the barranco despite the
A couple were also rescued from Teide National Park
alerts but got stuck on the tiny beach because of the extreme weather conditions which meant they could not be rescued by helicopter or boat. The rescue mission was completed the following morning by Tenerife fire brigade, the Red Cross and the mountain group of the Civil Guard. The youngsters, most of them German, were unscathed. There were also some heartstopping moments when firemen rescued a tourist who was trapped on a sheer cliff high above the sea. At one stage, the brave fire crew had to secure themselves with ropes before clambering up to reach the man. The area, known as Barran-
co Seco, is part of the famous Los Gigantes cliffs in the south of the holiday island and stand 400 metres above sea level. The tourist, an Italian, had decided to go for a “walk” by himself despite an alert over the weather conditions but had to call the emergency services when he couldn’t move any further because of the rocks. Eight firemen, including fulltimers and volunteers, had to walk to the beauty spot as it was not possible to bring in the rescue helicopter. They then had to scale the cliffs, negotiating a narrow path, before hauling themselves up with ropes which they attached to the pipe, already broken in one section. The man was eventually rescued, again by foot, and suffered no ill effects. The emergency services had to deal with dozens of incidents during the storm,
The dramatic rescue in Barranco Seco
The eight youngsters rescued from Masca
including floods, landslides, car accidents, fallen trees and signs. Schools wre closed and waves of up to six metres high were recorded. Two people had to be rescued when they became trapped in their car in the mountain area of Izaña in Tenerife by snow and members of two football teams were trapped on El Hierro where they had flown for matches but were unable to return when the storms struck.
Several luxury yachts were damaged when battered by the wind in the port of Las Nieves in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. Storm Emma also caused eight boats to sink or become semi-submerged in Fuerteventura marina and British experts had to be called in to help with the major salvage operation. A floating barrier was installed at the entrance to the Gran Tarajal marina in a bid to stop any pollution from
spreading out of the docks. The boats had 147,000 litres of fuel on board. In Santa Cruz, an oil rig smashed into a container boat moored in the docks during the extreme conditions. Sunshine has now fortunately returned to Tenerife but accidents can still happen so the advice to tourists is the same: Take care, go prepared and DON’T take risks!