German tourist jumps ship - literally

This story was reported from neighbouring La Palma island by NEWS IN THE SUN last week:

''Air sea rescue were mobilised  in the main port of La Palma after a prank backfired yesterday afternoon.

Apparently when a young German tourist jumped from the cruise liner Aida into the sea his companion sounded the alarm after he did not appear to surface.

The Santa Cruz de La Palma Maritime Rescue boat scoured the sea around the cruise liner  and a GES helicopter was scrambled to search from the air.

After two hours , the young man appeared back on the liner; after jumping into the sea he swam to one of the pontoons and was perfectly safe. Authorities are considering what action to take, swimming in the port waters is expressly forbidden, after this costly exercise as the result of a joke in very bad taste.''

Two accidents leave one dead and one injured

Two separate accidents this weekend left one dead and one injured on La Gomera. 

First a local man in his eighties from the Arguamul area in La Gomera's north-west was reported missing by his family when he failed to return home late on Friday. Yesterday his body was discovered below a precipice near the chapel of Santa Clara, but the abrupt terrain made the recovery of his body extremely difficult, and only efforts by specialised mountain rescue teams finally resulted in recovering the corpse later on Saturday. The octogenarian was well known and respected in La Gomera, particularly for his reliable regular ringing of the the bells of the chapel of Santa Clara.

Arguamul seen from near Santa Clara

In a separate incident a 62-year-old woman who was out hiking in Valle Gran Rey suffered a fall and a suspected knee fracture. She had to be rescued by the GES helicopter and was transferred to the hospital in San Sebastian de La Gomera where she was said to be recovering from her injuries.

GES Search & Rescue helicopter in action (archive image)