The police are investigating the death of a woman in her 30s who fell off a speeding jet ski Sunday afternoon.
The accident occurred in the early evening in El Palo district of the city of Málaga.
It being the big day of the Virgen del Carmen fiestas Playa El Palo and Playa de Pedregalejo were packed solid.
The sea just off those beaches also had an important presence of recreation craft, including jet skis, waiting for the Virgen to reach the beach in the processional boat.
It was around 20.50h that a jet ski beached on one of the El Palo coves transporting the 32-year-old victim, who showed no reaction to stimulus. The emergency services were immediately notified.
Paramedics applied CPR for over 40 minutes before getting sufficient reaction to rush her to hospital, where she arrived a little before ten in the evening. She died just after midnight.
It appears that she had been riding at the back of a 3-seat jet ski and somewhere along the ride she toppled off, The other two occupants, a man and a woman, retrieved her from the sea and brought her back to the beach.
In Spanish they are called ‘water motorbikes’ and they are large cylinder ones of between 700 and 1200cc engines. It’s not only the speed you hit the water at (on average 65 knots at full throttle) but the danger of falling into the jet of water coming out the back.
Quoting from Wikipedia: Apart from the obvious hazards of collisions and mechanical breakdowns common to all vehicles, operating or riding a PWC can involve a risk of orifice injuries. These injuries are typical of the kinds of injuries that waterskiers experience as a result of falling into the water at speed. Such injuries can occur from simply falling in the water at speed or they can occur from the output end of the pump jet.
A rider who falls (or is ejected) off the back can land directly in the path of the PWC’s high-pressure jet of water. Unless a rider is appropriately dressed in garments made out of a strong, thick substance like neoprene (as is commonly found in wetsuits), the jet may penetrate any orifice it reaches.
Such orifice injuries can result in permanent disability or death. For example, in 2006, the California Court of Appeal for the First Appellate District upheld a $3.7 million Napa County jury verdict against Polaris Industries arising out of one such incident (which had devastating effects on the victim’s lower abdomen)
(News: City & Metropolitan Area, Costa del Sol, Malaga, Andalucia)