- The alarm was raised just after 12.30pm yesterday at Playa Chica on Lanzarote
A British scuba diver has died off the coast of Lanzarote.
The 59-year-old was assisted by emergency medical responders after getting into difficulties at a small sandy cove called Playa Chica in the tourist resort of Puerto del Carmen.
They tried to revive him after he was pulled out of the water and they discovered he had gone into cardiac arrest.
But they were unable to save him and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The alarm was raised just after 12.30pm yesterday at Playa Chica, the most southerly beach in Puerto del Carmen, which is famed for its amazing snorkelling.
The 59-year-old was assisted by emergency medical responders after getting into difficulties at a small sandy cove called Playa Chica in the tourist resort of Puerto del Carmen
A spokesman for a regional government-run emergency response coordination centre said overnight: ‘A 59-year-old scuba diver has died following an incident at Playa Chica in the municipality of Tias.
‘We started receiving calls just after 12.30pm yesterday.
‘The callers said a scuba diver who was unconscious and needed emergency medical assistance had been pulled from the water.
‘Emergency responders discovered he was in cardiac arrest when they arrived at the scene and practiced CPR on him without obtaining positive results.
‘He was pronounced dead at the scene.
‘The Civil Guard is preparing a report on the incident.
‘Local police and firefighters were also mobilised.’
In February last year a 63-year-old British woman scuba diver died off the coast of Tenerife.
The tragedy occurred around off a beach in the municipality of Fasnia in eastern Tenerife.
Tourists sunbathe, swim and relax at Playa Grande Beach in Puerto del Carmen, located south east in the volcanic island of Lanzarote
In November 2022 a British diver died on Lanzarote.
The 60-year-old is said to have suffered a cardiac arrest on Playa Flamingo in the south of the island.
A lifeguard is understood to have tried to assist the unnamed Brit when he saw he was in difficulties but was unable to do anything to save his life.
Enrique Espinosa, manager of the Security and Emergency Consortium of Lanzarote, said at the time: ‘He had all the correct permits to be able to dive but diving is a high-risk sport and anything that goes wrong can be fatal.
‘He went into cardiac arrest after arriving and attempts to revive him proved unsuccessful.’
Police sources said the British man had ‘health issues.’
In February 2019 a British man died during a dive off the coast of Tenerife where he had been celebrating his 32nd wedding anniversary with wife Lesley.
Andrew Littler, from Coalville, Leicester, was pronounced dead after the alarm was raised when he went into cardiac arrest following unsuccessful attempts to revive him on a pier in the quiet holiday resort of Abades in the south-east of the sunshine island.
News of the tragedy emerged when friends organised a GoFundMe appeal to help repatriate the transporter driver’s body.
