Moment cruise ship passengers washed away by huge 15ft waves in Tenerife (Pictures: X)
A third person has died after powerful waves slammed into the Spanish island of Tenerife yesterday,injuring 15 others.
A 79-year-old Dutch woman was one of 10 people dragged into the sea after a wave strike near Puerto de la Cruz yesterday afternoon.
She suffered a cardiac arrest and was declared dead soon after ambulance crews arrived at 3pm local time.
The unnamed woman was a passenger on a cruise liner that had just docked that morning on the island,according to sea accident prevention organisation Canarias 1500 Km de Costa.
Another woman could be heard yelling in Spanish: ‘Look,look,now,now’ as the wave approached and knocked both the four people standing on the upper part of the protective wall and a larger group below them into the water.
Some were on the stairs between the two when the wave came crashing over them.
This is the horror moment a Dutch tourist is killed and nine other people are injured
(Picture: Solarpix.Com)
Two others were left with serious trauma and seven others with minor injuries.
Regional officials said they had suffered a range of injuries,including hip and leg injuries,from colliding with coastal rocks and the ocean.
Waves lashed the north coast of Tenerife (Picture: Segundo Sacramento Dominguez)
A single wave pulled six people into the sea at Roque de Las Bodegas Beach (Picture: X/@112canarias)
Among those affected was a British tourist who was due home on Sunday.
A fisherman,43,from the town of La Orotava,also died after falling from a cave near Charco del Viento at around 4.30pm.
The Devil’s Cave is about seven miles west of Puerto de la Cruz.
Rescuers hoisted the man onto a helicopter before rushing him to Santa Cruz,Diario de Avbisos reported.
Tourists were hit by the waves along Tenerife’s coast (Picture: Getty Images)
The body of a man was discovered earlier near El Cabezo beach at 2pm.
He reported that one anonymous woman managed to save a victim suffering a cardiac arrest after performing CPR.
Six French tourists – three women and two men – were swept into the sea near Roque de las Bodegas in the Anaga zone at about 11.30am.
One woman was airlifted to the Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria University Hospital,emergency services said.
A pre-alert was issued by the country’s meteorological service for severe coastal weather on Friday.
The seas were expected to swell by as much as three metres,whipped up by north-easterly winds of up to 40kmph.
People were urged to be wary when swimming or surfing and to avoid rocky coastal areas altogether.
Seafarers were told to avoid sailing ‘unless absolutely necessary’.
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