British tourist dies and 14 injured in bus crash

A coach carrying the driver and 27 British tourists being transferred from their holiday accommodation in Playa de Santiago to the ferry in San Sebastian de La Gomera crashed yesterday just about 4 kms from its destination and only a few hundred yards above the location of another fatal bus crash in May last year.

One British tourist died in yesterday's crash, three are in a serious condition and a further 11 suffered minor injuries. The three most seriously injured have been transferred by helicopter to the university hospital in Tenerife, the others are being treated in La Gomera's hospital. It has been confirmed that the most seriously injured victim is the driver who remains in a critical condition.

The crash happened at around 1 pm and it has been reported that the Guardia Civil police suspect a brake failure on the steep serpentine mountain road which has lots of sharp bends and that the driver's actions prevented a much worse outcome, but further investigations are ongoing. The British Foreign Office is supporting the victims and their families while all victims are receiving psychological support provided by local authorities.

(images from official Canary Islands government 112 emergencies X account)

Two dead and one critical after car crashes into house

Scene of the accident in Arure (Image source: Ramon Hernandez/facebook.com)

A car crashed into the wall of a building in a bend on the main GM-1 road in the village of Arure, municipality of Valle Gran Rey, on Sunday night hitting two persons outside the house.

The alarm was raised just before 7 pm and when the emergency services arrived at  the scene a man and a woman who had been in front of the house at the time had been fatally injured, while another woman, who was the passenger in the crashed car, was extracted from the vehicle alive with life-threatening injuries. She was transferred by SUC helicopter to the university hospital in Tenerife, where she remains in critical condition. Meanwhile the male driver of the crashed vehicle was transferred to La Gomera's hospital with less severe injuries.

Several people near the scene of the horrendous crash had to be treated for shock and the whole island of La Gomera remains shaken by the incident. Valle Gran Rey has declared three days of mourning and all events have been cancelled there.

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).

Air ambulance defies strong winds

The air ambulance was called to the harbour of Vueltas in Valle Gran Rey, La Gomera, at lunchtime yesterday after an elderly tourist with a heart condition became ill aboard an excursion boat, obliging the vessel to return to port. The emergency services had been called who sent a medical team, and the air ambulance also arrived despite the very windy conditions experienced yesterday. The patient was removed from the excursion boat under medical supervision and brought to the air ambulance which then transferred the seriously ill tourist to the university hospital on Tenerife. 

It is always amazing to watch the skill of the helicopter pilots of the emergency services, especially in the very windy conditions experienced yesterday which forced the chopper to come in at a very low altitude at what appeared to me a wobbly, crazy angle and later having to take off again in the dusty and gusty conditions.