Officers belonging to the Nerja Policía Local and an off-duty Guardia-Civil officer managed to save a person's life on Playa Salón (beside the Balcón de Europa).
The Guardia Civil officer is from Nerja but based in Sevilla and was spending his summer holidays in his hometown.
The incident took place Friday evening with strong winds blowing, whipping up the surf. For this reason, the red flag was flying, warning bathers not to go into the sea. The lifeguards had gone off duty at 20.00h spending the day warning potential swimmers.
However, a group of men in their 40s (midlife crisis, no doubt) decided to go for a swim. Two of the three managed to regain the beach despite the heavy surf; the third one was having trouble and was being swept out to sea and along towards Playa de Calahonda.
Witnesses called in the situation to the Emergency Coordination Centre, 112, which despatched two, municipal-police, squad cars to the beach. One of the officers, Francisco Alba, stripped down to his underpants and dove into the water.
Battling waves and currents, he managed to reach the 40-year-old, Nerja resident, who had drifted close to a line of yellow buoys. This was when the off-duty Guardia-Civil officer, Emilio Gárate, who had also swam out, reached them.
Between them they managed to tow the victim back towards the shore where they were met by another, Policía Local, Olga Cervera, who had also stripped off and entered the water, with floats (which are part of squad-car equipment).
The victim had swallowed a lot of water but had remained conscious and did not require CPR. An ambulance had been standing by, but was not needed in the end.
Eyewitnesses, who were many, applauded the officers’ selfless actions.
(News: Nerja, Axarquia, Costa del Sol, Malaga, Andalucia – Source: Eugenio Cabezas/Sur)
Keywords: Red Flag, Off-Duty, Officers, Rescue, Drowning Man, Playa Salon, Playa Calahonda, Heavy Surf
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