Misfortunes never come alone, they say. Matías, from the window of a ferry, witnessed just three days ago how his car fell into the sea (and sank) during a journey between La Gomera and Tenerife on the Fred. Olsen shipping company. But just over two years ago, in autumn 2021, he lost a house in Valle de Aridane swallowed by the flows of the Tajogaite volcano. “I now have a house under the lava and a car at the bottom of the sea,” said the affected man yesterday.
The sea swallowed Matías’ car on Holy Saturday, as he was returning to Tenerife with his family after spending a few days on holiday in La Gomera. “Since I am a frequent traveller, I travel in gold class and they park the car close to the exit. I turned the wheel and applied the handbrake, as we always do. I got out of the vehicle and went up. When the ship left the port’s breakwater, it hit a wave, and I saw the car floating in the water. I was in shock,” he recounted in an interview with COPE Canarias.
Seeing the car floating, he had no doubt it was his vehicle, a very large and limited edition 4×4. “It was my car, there was no doubt,” he asserted, and humorously confessed: “I used to have a car and now I have a submarine.” In 2022, another vehicle fell into the sea from a Fred. Olsen ship, also parked in the ‘premium’ area.
Matías admitted without the need for questioning that in autumn 2021, when he lived in La Palma, he lost a house in Valle de Aridane due to the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja. “Except for the lottery, I’ve had a bit of everything,” ironically said this businessman who regularly travels to La Gomera for business and dared to draw a parallel: “At that time, we also had to look for clothes, we lost the laptop we used for work, and we also lost sentimental valuables.”
The affected man recalled that his children cried and that he had to reassure them, but what worried him the most was the moment he thought his dogs were inside the 4×4. “The first thing I thought about was them, but then I realised I had left them in La Palma. If I had had them, I would have jumped into the water, even if it was a mistake, because I would probably have been crushed by the ship’s propeller,” he said.
Regarding what he lost at sea, apart from the car, this businessman stated that “they are things of high sentimental value,” like a mate tea pot that belonged to his great-grandfather, computers, and mountain clothing.
According to his account, the company has assured them that they will take care of everything, “and then some,” he pointed out in the interview, where he also took the time to clarify what happened. “So many silly things have been said… I followed the protocol indicated by the employees: turning the wheels and applying the handbrake. I always do it, I repeat, it is a route I take regularly,” he emphasized.
