It has claimed six lives in just four years and “countless” bathers have been rescued injured by being struck against the rocks and with symptoms of drowning. Its crystalline waters among volcanic rocks, the contrast of lights and shadows and the opening in the upper part, through which the pressurized water enters and leaves, make the Tancón cave, in the municipality of Santiago del Teide, in a space so paradisiac as treacherous, a death trap for the action of currents that act as boils, trapping, hitting and sucking the bathers.
Despite the billboards and informational signs scattered around the entrances that warn of the prohibition of bathing, the place is highly frequented, mostly by tourists, who come to the unique bufadero (geological formation of volcanic origin that originates in areas cliffs and that suffers the erosion of the waves) attracted by its wild, airy beauty, often recklessly, by social networks.
Emilio Navarro, mayor of Santiago del Teide, insists that it is “strictly prohibited” to bathe in El Tancón, as reflected in the information panels, “which we have to replace every month because they are broken or thrown into the sea”, and warns that From now on, those who fail to comply with the notices will be financially sanctioned, as specified in the regulations published last week by the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands. The councilor, who does not hide his disappointment at the constant visits, recalls that the people who bathe in this cave not only endanger their lives but also the lives of the people who come to their aid.
Navarro told DIARIO DE AVISOS that the day after the young Italian’s death, when the Civil Guard was investigating the area, there were those who bypassed the seals or accessed this place by sea or by other roads. “And two days later the buffet was full,” he added.
The Volunteer Firefighters of Santiago del Teide participated last week in the 48-hour device activated to rescue the four people trapped in El Tancón after, during high tide, a wave surprised bathers, raising the water level in their inside and causing them to hit the ceiling of the cave.
A woman of Swiss nationality was rescued in critical condition, while a friend and a young man were injured, although less seriously. The lifeless body of the Italian man in his twenties who completed the group was located, 24 hours later, by the Underwater Operations Group of the Civil Guard (GEAS) in an area near the exit of the cave. Two days later, the 33-year-old Swiss woman, an architect by profession, died in the Hospital de La Candelaria, who had landed on the island a few days before to spend her vacations.
The person in charge of the Volunteer Firefighters of Santiago del Teide, Federico Linares, clarified, in statements to DIARIO DE AVISOS, that El Tancón “is not a puddle or a natural pool as is often sold on the Internet, but a very dangerous bufadero due to currents and because when the tide rises it sucks everything it finds in that hole, it engulfs you and you cannot escape ”.
Linares pointed out that the four companions who participated in the search for the young Italian (David Sainz, Juan Ramón Domínguez, Sergio Barreto and Dani Elías) will not forget the experience. “Although the sea conditions had improved a lot, as soon as we got out of the water they told us that inside the cave the sea was like a washing machine spinning.”
“Six people have died there in four years, but there have also been innumerable rescues that could end in tragedy, because when the sea is calm it looks like a puddle, but any change in currents or in times of spring tides is a very dangerous place. ”, Indicated the head of the Volunteer Firefighters of Santiago del Teide, who insists on the obligation to respect the informational signs in various languages and to pay attention to the“ boatmen ”of the municipality, who are well aware of the risks that this point of the city entails. coast. “They know when they get in, and if you don’t see a boatman in the area, it is because the sea is very bad and there is an obvious danger.”
Sebastián Quintana, promoter of the Canarias 1,500 kilometers of coastline platform, pointed out that El Tancón and the La Laja pond, in San Juan de La Rambla, are the two most dangerous places in the Canary Islands to submerge in its waters. In his opinion, the common denominator in 80% of accidents in aquatic spaces is the “negligence” of the bather, either consciously or unconsciously, due to ignorance of the danger posed by the environment.
In addition, it maintains that there is “a basic conceptual error”, since the orography of the Archipelago’s coast “is not dangerous in itself”; “The danger begins when someone decides to take a bath or get too close to a breaker, a cliff or a bufadero”.
The president of the platform Canarias 1,500 kilometers of coastline emphasized that in most of the pools, bufaderos and insular cliff areas there are no surveillance services, which means that the more bathers, he indicated, the greater the probability of accidents.
According to the memory of the platform, so far this year 32 bathers have died in the Canary Islands.
