Fatal bus crash on mountain road

Image source: diariodeavisos

A major accident on the GM-2 main road about 3 km outside San Sebastián de La Gomera yesterday morning left a 73-year-old woman dead and 11 other people injured, some seriously, when a public transport bus with 20 people on board overturned.

The crash happened at around 8:30am, when the bus veered off the road and tumbled down a slope. The authorities stated that the vehicle was operating the regular route between Alajeró in La Gomera's south and the capital San Sebastián de La Gomera when it left one part of the roadway and overturned onto a lower part of the same mountain road near and below the large statue of Christ overlooking the capital.

Scene of the accident seen from the upper part of the road. Image source: diariodeavisos

The alarm was raised at 8:42am, initiating a major emergency response involving ambulances, a rescue helicopter, police, civil defence, etc. According to the Canary Islands’ Emergency Coordination Centre (CECOES), all those injured were taken to Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe hospital, but one critically injured was later transferred by helicopter to Tenerife's main hospital.

The cause of the accident is being investigated by a team of specialists from Tenerife.

Despite La Gomera's winding and often precipitous roads such accidents are thankfully very rare, but in January 2018 another bus crashed and overturned (click to read post).

Carnival in Playa de Santiago 2020

Playa de Santiago will hold their annual carnival from tomorrow, March 5th 2020.
The main parade will be on Friday from 6:30 pm, followed by dancing to DJs and salsa bands all night...

New mayor in Valle Gran Rey

The new mayor of Valle Gran Rey, Cristopher Marrero (image: gomeranoticias.com)

Valle Gran Rey's new local administration has now been formed and Cristopher Marrero of the PSOE is the new mayor, even though his party holds only two of the eleven seats on the council. His election was facilitated with the help of the two councillors of the Si Se Puede grouping and the two of the Nueva Canarias party, leaving La Gomera's strongest party ASG in opposition with five seats. See all La Gomera local election 2019 results...

Local election results La Gomera 2019

Casimiro Curbelo

The independent La Gomera socialist ASG party of the island's president Casimiro Curbelo (image on top) was the clear winner in the recent local elections, followed by the socialist PSOE. The graphics below (source: gomeraverde.es) first show the results for the election to La Gomera's cabildo (island government) followed by the results in all five municipal areas of La Gomera, where in some it is not clear yet who will form the new local government ('escaños' = seats). Left environmental group SSP (Si Se Puede) won two seats for the first time in Valle Gran Rey and Vallehermoso as well as one in San Sebastian de La Gomera, plus two seats in the cabildo.

                                                                             CABILDO:

MUNICIPAL AREAS:

Carnival 2018 comes to Playa de Santiago

Playa de Santiago/Alajero will hold their carnival from tomorrow. The main theme there
will be 'Asia' and the parade will start at 18:30 pm on Friday March 2nd 2018.

Bus overturns: Several people injured (Updated)

The overturned coach. Image: twitter.com/112canarias

A serious accident occurred at around 10:30 am this morning when an excursion coach with about 20 passengers. overturned on a very winding and narrow minor road near the hamlet of Argoyada in the muninicpal district of Alajero in La Gomera's south. Several people were injured, two of them seriously, The cause of the accident is not known yet. Weather conditions were poor with strong and very gusty winds and some fog and drizzle. The passengers were said to be tourists on their way to begin a hiking tour. The two seriously injured are woman of 67 with back injuries and an over 70 years old male with serious fractures, including a fractured skull. 

UPDATE: 

As promised earlier here's my update: Most of the passengers got away with a shock or minor injuries and had all been taken to the nearest health centre before going home. The few more seriously affected are being treated and are 'comfortably in hospital'.

As I've got some 'inside information', and as the driver is known to me and the tour guide is a friend of mine, I'll better refrain from commenting further on the accident. 

However, I feel that it must be stated that thanks to the driver's actions a disaster was prevented and that both driver and guide acted in an exemplary fashion at all times. Thankfully serious road accidents are extremely rare here, and La Gomera's drivers are some of the best in the world.

Scene of the bus crash. Note the sheer drop to the left of the overturned bus. Image: gomertoday.com

Large port and marina planned for Playa de Santiago

The existing harbour in La Gomera's southernmost town of Playa de Santiago will be dwarfed if the plans for a large extension of the pier and port will get funding. The plans have been around for quite some time but nothing has happened yet due to lack of financial support. Recently there have been renewed political efforts to have funds for project included in the 2018 budget of the Canarian government and to apply for some EU aid under the cohesion heading.

The project when first drawn up had a price tag of around 106.5 million Euros and will involve massive movement of rock and concrete, of which the municipal region of Alajero, in which Playa de Santiago is situated has more than plenty. The new port, if built, will provide berths for ships and ferries of up to 340 ft in length, a marina with berths for about 350 pleasure craft of various sizes, a dedicated comercial fishing section and ancillary works. 

If only they would finish the port of Valle Gran Rey, which badly needs a marina and has been awaiting the final 'phase two' for many years, first...

Below an impressive animated introduction to the ambitious plans for Playa de Santiago

Super-fast internet coming to La Gomera soon

The majority of internet users in La Gomera will have access to high-speed internet by the end of 2017. The communications company Telefonica is already in the process of installing fibre-optic cables which will bring internet speeds of up to a whopping 300 Mbps to households, giving La Gomera the fastest internet connectivity available in the world. First to benefit will be four of the six municipal areas. Valle Gran Rey will be almost completely covered with close to 3.400 connections to benefit, followed by Vallehermoso, Alajero and San Sebastian de La Gomera with well over 1.000 high-speed connections each. By the end of the coming year 57% of all connections in La Gomera will have been linked with the super-fast fibre-optic network with the rest of the island to follow later.

Afraid my ageing hardware won't be able to keep pace, though...

Carnival now moves to Playa de Santiago

Playa de Santiago (Alajero) carnival poster The theme tis year is 'music'

The new municipal mayors of La Gomera

Angel Piñero of  Valle Gran Rey (Image: gomeranoticias.com)

Valle Gran Rey: 

Angel Piñero has been elected mayor of this municipal area on La Gomera last Saturday. His Coalicion Canaria party came out strongest in the recent local elections, winning four of the eleven seats on the local council but unable to gain a majority. However, his candidature was supported by all but the two Si Se Puede councillors and it now appears he will form a minority local government with the support of most elected councillors.

The other 5 municipal mayors on La Gomera were elected as follows:

San Sebastian de La Gomera: 

Now ruled by the new socialist party ASG (6 seats)  in coalition with Antonio Luis Arteaga of Nueva Canarias (1 seat) with Adasat Reyes  of the ASG as mayor. 

Vallehermoso: 

Emiliano Coello of the ASG elected mayor with absolute majority held by the ASG.

Agulo: 

Rosa Chinea (ASG) is new mayor, also with absolute majority of the seats held by her party.

Hermigua: 

Pedro Negrín of CC (2 seats) elected mayor, forming local government in coalition with ASG (2 seats) and PSOE (1seat). Former mayor Solveida Clemente's party is now in opposition with four seats.

Alajeró: 

Manuel Ramón Plasencia of the Spanish Labour Party PSOE managed to go against the trend on La Gomera, now being the only mayor to be re-elected with his party gaining an absolute majority of the seats.

Concert in solidarity with Venezuela

The concert takes place in Alajero on Wednesday, 8:30pm

Road closure due to fiesta

The road which connects the south-west and west of La Gomera with the airport will be temporarily closed today until 3pm from the chapel 'Nuestra Señora de El Paso' to the town of Alajero. The same stretch of road will be closed again tomorrow, Sunday Sept. 15th, from 5pm to 8pm. To reach the airport or the town of Santiago during the closure motorists should allow plenty of extra time for a long detour via the main road in the national park and Degollada de Peraza. The temporary closures are due to the processions during the fiesta in honour of the above mentioned virgin in the parish of Alajero. This is one of the larger celebrations on La Gomera with the usual mix of processions, sports and entertainment  which draws big crowds every  September. 
The weather on La Gomera is back to normal with mostly blue skies, light winds, and at 11am it was 25ºC. Perfect fiesta conditions !

Ermita Nuestra Señora de El Paso, Alajero, La Gomera