La Manga, Fishermen airlifted to safety

The three men became trapped on the rocks due to heavy seas

Heavy seas and strong winds yesterday lead to 2 rescues as holidaymakers yet again put themselves in compromising positions.

Red flags were flying on Cartagena beaches, due to the conditions of the sea in certain patches of the Mediterranean coastline, red on the beaches of Monte Blanco, Las Sirenas, Entremares, Zeus and Galúa, with yellow on Playa Levante in Cabo de Palos and Calblanque.
Fortunately bathers in general observed the warnings, and there were no dramatic water rescues, so the holidaymakers turned their attention to the cliffs instead.

The first incident occurred at 5pm in Cabo de Palos, when Emergency services received a call that a youngster was trapped at the bottom of a cliff face. He had decided to climb down a 10 metre cliff face near to the lighthouse, but slipped and hurt his leg, so became trapped at the bottom by the waves and the wind, unable to get back up the cliff or swim back around to the beach due to the force of the waves on the rocks.
Cartagena firemen and Protección Civil used a system of ropes and harnesses to bring him back up to safety.

Shortly afterwards a call came in alerting emergencies that a group of fishermen were trapped on a rock 150 metres from the beach of Galúa at La Manga del Mar Menor.

They had apparently gone to the area the night before and were sighted on the rocks during the morning, but declined help saying they were OK and didn´t require any assistance.

However, as the day progressed and sea conditions deteriorated, they were unable to get off the rocks and finally called for help just after 5 in the afternoon.

A jetski was sent to the area, but was unable to get near to the rocks due to the size of the waves, so finally air support was requested and a spotter plane and helicopter from the Consorcio de Extinción de Incendios y Salvamento (CEIS) were sent to the area and the three airlifted to safety.