A British man aged 52, was among two people who drowned this Friday on a beach in Guardamar when they tried to help two children aged six and seven, who were in distress.
Furthermore, a 68-year-old man died 24 hours earlier, drowned on the same beach, according to the emergency services. The beach does not yet have a lifeguard or rescue service.
The deaths ocurred on the beach La Roqueta de Guardamar de Segura, south of the Guardamar town centre. There was some initial confusion with early rumours suggesting that up to eight people had lost their lives in the incident. Fortunately this proved to be untrue.
The drowning occurred when the two children called for help because they were in trouble and eight others tried to rescue them. They were eventually pulled from the sea but two of the rescuers were unable to get out of the water themselves, a British male and a 46 year old Polish man, who have both lost their lives.
In addition to the two deaths, a third person, a 39-year-old male with symptoms of drowning, is in the University Hospital of Torrevieja receiving treatment.
Two other individuals, a woman of about 20 years of age, who had mild dizziness and anxiety, and a 22-year-old male, were also treated by health personnel after swallowing water. Both have been transferred by two SVB units to the University Hospital of Torrevieja.
On the beach itself, with the lifeguard service and the rescue plan not due to be put in place by the Guardamar council, until 15 June, the easterly winds were said to be up to 60 kilometres per hour, causing extremely strong tides which were dragging the children out and into the sea.
Twenty-four hours earlier, a 68-year-old man died on the same beach. The emergency services despatched a SAMU ambulance, which, on arrival, tried unsuccessfully to revive the bather. Resuscitation manoeuvres were carried out for over 30 minutes, but the paramedics were unable to revive the bather.
