THREE people have been rescued from the sea off the Canary Island of La Palma just 24 hours after 15 people were injured in a tidal surge in Tenerife.
Emergency responders said the trio were desperately clinging onto a buoy when they were rescued from the water.
The incident took pace just after midday in the municipality of Brena Alta on the eastern side of La Palma.
The victims included two women who were both taken to hospital with hypothermia and a man who suffered separate injuries.
A regional government spokesman said: “Coastguards and firefights have rescued three people in distress at sea in La Palma.
“The alert was sounded at 12.11pm today at Bajamar Beach in the municipality of Brena Alta.
“An 86-year-old woman suffering hypothermia and a shoulder injury was taken by ambulance to La Palma General Hospital.
“A 61-year-old woman who, also with hypothermia was taken to the same hospital.”
Confirming police and Civil Protection workers were among those mobilised, the spokesman said: “The alert we received said three people were in difficulties in the seas, clinging onto a buoy, and needed help.
“Coastguards rescued two of them, the two women, and firefighters a third, a man who was unharmed.”
It is not yet clear where these people are from, or how they got into such difficulties.
Most importantly, it is unclear why there were in the sea when a weather alert was in place.
The alert was put in place on Friday, with warnings of waves up to 15 feet high.
This ordeal occurred just under 24 hours after ten holidaymakers were swept away by a huge wave in the northern Tenerife port city of Puerto de la Cruz.
One, a 79-year-old Dutch tourist, who had just reached the island on a cruise liner, died in the incident which took place at 3pm.
As well as the Dutch woman, a 43-year-old man lost his life yesterday at a natural complex of pools called Charco del Viento, a short drive west of Puerto de la Cruz.
The tragedy occurred around 4.45pm yesterday.
Local reports described him as a local living nearby in La Orotava who was fishing when he was swept out to sea.
Emergency responders said: “The alert received said the man had fallen into the sea and needed help.
“A helicopter rescued him and took him to a helicopter landing area at the docks in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
“Once there he was confirmed dead due to the severity of the injuries he had suffered.
“An investigation led by the Civil Guard is ongoing.”
In a separate incident, six French holidaymakers were injured in Roque de las Bodegas when they reportedly ignored warnings not to get too close to the water.
This incident took place around 11:30am.
Emergency services confirmed that nobody – three men and three women – had suffered life threatening injuries.
They managed to get out of the water with the help of others after being swept into the sea by a wave.
Five were taken to hospital, one in an air ambulance.
The third of the people who lost their lives in the sea at Tenerife yesterday was a man whose nationality has not yet been made public.
He was in cardiac arrest when he was pulled out of the sea at El Cabezo beach in Granadilla around 2pm yesterday.
All efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.
Local authorities say he was pulled out of the sea “after being found floating in the water.”
They have not yet clarified whether he ended up in the ocean after being carried away by large waves.
Before this spate of tragedies, Canary Islands officials reminded locals and holidaymakers to exercise “maximum caution at the coast.”
“Don’t stand at the end of piers or breakwaters, and do not risk taking photographs or videos where the waves break,” they added.
