Four Dead After Sea Surge Hits Tenerife

Another person remains missing, and this morning the search operation was reactivated.

One of the two individuals rescued alive after being hit by a sea surge in Los Gigantes, Santiago del Teide (Tenerife), on Sunday afternoon has died, raising the death toll to four, according to the Civil Guard, which confirmed the information to Europa Press.

The incident was reported at 16:07 when the operations room of the Canary Islands Emergency and Security Coordination Center (112) received an alert that several people needed assistance at sea after being struck by strong waves.

Emergency resources were immediately deployed, allowing rescuers to recover the bodies of three deceased persons and to bring ashore two injured victims, one of them in serious condition who later succumbed to his injuries.

After the rescue of these five people, a search operation was launched for a sixth individual who is presumed to have also fallen into the sea. The search remains active on Monday, involving the Civil Guard’s maritime service, the Guardia Civil de Emergencias y Auxilio en la Sierra (GEAS), and the Maritime Rescue Service with a rescue boat and a helicopter.

Pre‑Alert for Coastal Phenomena

Since Friday, 5 December, the Canary Islands have been placed under a pre‑alert for coastal phenomena, with forecasts of waves reaching 2 to 5 metres in height along the northern coasts and the western sides of El Hierro, La Palma, Fuerteventura, and Lanzarote.

The Canary Islands Government, through the Directorate General of Emergencies, urges residents to exercise extreme caution on the islands’ shores and to follow self‑protection guidelines to avoid maritime risks.