The La Arboleda Neighborhood Association of the Salamanca neighborhood will go, again, to the Tagoror of the Centro-Ifara District of the Santa Cruz City Council to request that a translucent fence be placed in the Zurita bridge to serve to deter suicide attempts. This request is reiterated after a new suicide occurred days ago, when a man was thrown into the void from the bridge.
“This type of event keeps repeating itself over time, in the midst of an economic, social and health crisis. That is why the La Arboleda neighborhood association, through the Tagoror meeting of the Central District -Ifara and Salud-Salle, will request the City Council to install a protective fence as was done with the Javier de Loño bridge ” , they have communicated from the association.
The representatives of the AV La Arboleda have previously asked the Santa Cruz City Council to build a protection fence with a metal structure with translucent methacrylate plates, cemented to the bridge structure, high enough to make it totally safe.
Despite repeated requests from the neighborhood association, the City Council, through the Tagoror of the Ifara Central District, has rejected the installation of this type of fence and has opted as an alternative to improve the lighting and aesthetics of the bridge, which The sight of it is not enough to deter people from trying to rush from this point.
As reported by Firefighters of Tenerife and the Emergency and Security Coordination Center of the 1-1-2 of the Canary Islands, a man died last week after falling from the Zurita bridge. Firefighters from Tenerife, agents of the Local Police and National Police and two ambulances from the Canarian Emergency Service, whose staff confirmed the death of the person, moved to the scene of the events. The event occurred around noon.
Precedents
Unfortunately, similar events are too frequent on the Zurita bridge, and many are frustrated by the intervention of passers-by. In February 2019, several people managed to prevent a middle-aged man from ending his life by trying to throw himself from the bridge. It all happened minutes after four in the afternoon, when several passers-by who were walking near the bridge at the height of where it joins Calle del Obispo Pérez Cáceres, noticed that a man, already shirtless, was about to throw himself to the Santos ravine.
Taking advantage of the fact that he had not finished taking the step, some neighbors gave him a conversation to divert his attention, making it easier for another citizen to hold him and thus prevent him from falling into the void. In the interim, the authorities had already been alerted and immediately several patrols of the Local Police and the National Police arrived at the scene, as well as members of the Canary Emergency Service (SUC), who this time, fortunately, were able to rescue the safe and sound man.
