German tourist rescued from self-dug hole on Spanish beach
Spanish firefighters saved a 23-year-old German tourist from being buried alive on a Tenerife beach on Wednesday after a tunnel he built in the sand collapsed.
The young man had apparently planned to connect two holes more than two metres deep with a tunnel, but the sand collapsed around him, trapping him up to his neck for almost two hours.
His girlfriend called emergency services, who rushed to the scene in a helicopter and managed to pull the man out uninjured with the help of other nearby beachgoers.
"He had built a three-metre (10-foot) deep hole when the sand buried him," a Tenerife fire department spokeswoman told news agency AFP, adding that five vehicles and 15 fire fighters were involved in the rescue.
Click here for a video of the beach rescue.
Spanish newspaper Diario de Avisos charged the vacationer with stupidly endangering himself and forcing the massive rescue operation.
“Foolishness cost the Canary Islands taxpayers €20,000,” the paper wrote.
In July a 12-year-old Swiss boy died after a tunnel he dug in sand dunes with his two brothers at a beach at Castello d'Empuries in northwestern Spain collapsed around him, AFP reported.
DPA/AFP/The Local/ka
Comments
See Also
The young man had apparently planned to connect two holes more than two metres deep with a tunnel, but the sand collapsed around him, trapping him up to his neck for almost two hours.
His girlfriend called emergency services, who rushed to the scene in a helicopter and managed to pull the man out uninjured with the help of other nearby beachgoers.
"He had built a three-metre (10-foot) deep hole when the sand buried him," a Tenerife fire department spokeswoman told news agency AFP, adding that five vehicles and 15 fire fighters were involved in the rescue.
Click here for a video of the beach rescue.
Spanish newspaper Diario de Avisos charged the vacationer with stupidly endangering himself and forcing the massive rescue operation.
“Foolishness cost the Canary Islands taxpayers €20,000,” the paper wrote.
In July a 12-year-old Swiss boy died after a tunnel he dug in sand dunes with his two brothers at a beach at Castello d'Empuries in northwestern Spain collapsed around him, AFP reported.
DPA/AFP/The Local/ka
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.