Father DIES after being swept out to sea in Majorca hours before shock ‘MINI TSUNAMI’

The German man, 52, was walking on Portopetro beach on the south coast of Majorca when a wave dragged him into the sea along with his children in front of his wife.

Canoeists came to the aid of the individuals and were able to rescue the son from the water, while the mother was able to rescue the daughter.

The father’s lifeless body was carried ashore by the canoeists and paramedics were unable to resuscitate him, according to German newspaper Das Bild.

Police are currently investigating the exact circumstances of the death, but they are not thought to be suspicious.

Majorca was also hit by a freak five-foot wave in the early hours of Tuesday morning, which caused flooding and destruction in many popular coastal resorts.

The mini-tsunami hit the city of Cituadella on the west coast of Menorca and beach chairs were sent flying.

Water also flooded roads in the town of Alcudia in the north of Majorca, disrupting traffic.

Boat owners were seen struggling to control their vessels and a historic sailing boat used by the Majorca Island Council broke adrift and had be brought back to port.

Martí Fuster, a fishing boat owner in the Port d’Alcudia, commented to the Mirror about the event, stating: “I have never seen a ‘rissaga’ like that in the bay of Alcúdia.”

The phenomenon, known as a meteotsunami, is caused by disturbances in air pressure following extreme weather events such as strong thunderstorms.

They are generally smaller than tsunamis which are caused by seismic activity.

No injuries were reported following the incident on Tuesday as the event occurred in the early hours of the morning.

The Foreign Office has currently issued no travel alerts for Majorca and Menorca.

Meteotsunamis are rare and have accounted for only three percent of recorded tsunamis between 2000 BC and June 2014, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data.

NOAA noted certain regions of the world are “more susceptible” to meteotsunamis due to factors such as “bathymetry, coastline shape, and even nearby topography influencing the development of atmospheric gravity waves”.

Spaniards refer to meteotsunamis as ‘rissaga’, while in Japan they are known as ‘abiki’.