British man, 60, dies after getting into difficulties while diving off Lanzarote
- The British man is said to have suffered a cardiac arrest in the south of the island
- Tragedy happened around midday on Monday on Lanzarote’s Playa Flamingo
- Spanish police only confirmed the 60-year-old’s nationality this morning
- A lifeguard is understood to have tried to save him when he saw him in trouble
A British diver has died on the holiday island of Lanzarote.
The 60-year-old is said to have suffered a cardiac arrest on Playa Flamingo in the south of the island.
The tragedy occurred around midday on Monday.
He was described at the time as a ‘foreign man’ but police only confirmed his nationality this morning.
A British diver has died on the holiday island of Lanzarote. The 60-year-old is said to have suffered a cardiac arrest on Playa Flamingo in the south of the island
A lifeguard is understood to have tried to assist the unnamed Brit when he saw he was in difficulties but was unable to do anything to save his life.
Enrique Espinosa, manager of the Security and Emergency Consortium of Lanzarote, said: ‘He had all the correct permits to be able to dive but diving is a high-risk sport and anything that goes wrong can be fatal.
‘He went into cardiac arrest after arriving and attempts to revive him proved unsuccessful.’
A post-mortem is already understood to have taken place, although results of autopsies are rarely made public in Spain and are instead sent to an investigating magistrate placed in charge of a probe into the death.
Police sources said the British man had ‘health issues’.
A lifeguard is understood to have tried to assist the unnamed Brit when he saw he was in difficulties but was unable to do anything to save his life
It was not immediately clear if he lived in Spain or was holidaying in Lanzarote, and whether he had been diving alone or with a group.
In January 2018 a British OAP drowned on the same beach of Playa Flamingo, a popular beach because of its calm waters and fine sand.
The area is also popular with experienced and beginner divers because of the abundance of fish.
Three British divers died last in the Canary Islands in 2017.
Two, including ex 2 Para soldier John Walker, 54, from Consett, Co Durham, had been visiting or preparing to visit Atlantic Museum off Lanzarote.
The third person was named at the time as keep-fit enthusiast Justine Barringer, 44, who died after getting into difficulties off Veneguera Beach in Gran Canaria.
In February 2019 a British man died during a dive off the coast of Tenerife where he had been celebrating his 32nd wedding anniversary with wife Lesley.
Andrew Littler, from Coalville, Leicester, was pronounced dead after the alarm was raised when he went into cardiac arrest following unsuccessful attempts to revive him on a pier in the quiet holiday resort of Abades in the south-east of the sunshine island.
News of the tragedy emerged when friends organised a GoFundMe appeal to help repatriate the transporter driver’s body.
In just six days earlier this month, between November 4 and 10, five people drowned off the Canary Islands.