Warning signal ignored Four people die in monster wave on Tenerife
In the fall and winter, giant waves repeatedly hit the Canary Islands in the Atlantic. If you're not careful, you can be swept out to sea. This is exactly what has happened again.
07.12.2025, 23:33
08.12.2025, 12:27
dpa
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- On Tenerife, a giant wave has caused four deaths and several injuries.
- According to the media, several people who were swept away by the masses of water were able to get back to land under their own steam.
This article was comprehensively updated at 12.11 p.m. on Monday.
The number of deaths caused by high waves on the vacation island of Tenerife has risen to four, according to media reports. One woman, who had initially been flown to hospital, died there, reported the Spanish state TV station RTVE.
On Sunday, rescue workers were only able to recover three people who had been swept into the sea by powerful waves. The search for a fifth person, a woman, is continuing.
The people had been surprised by the high waves in a natural swimming pool in the west of the Spanish island. According to reports, the waves entered the swimming area, which was separated from the open sea by a stone wall, and crashed against the surrounding rocks. Subsequently, the suction of the water flowing back into the sea swept people away.
According to the authorities, two men and one woman are confirmed to have died in the accident near Los Gigantes in the Santiago del Teide region. One of the men was 35 years old, the woman 55. The age of the third victim was still not known the day after the accident. They are said to have been tourists, but no official information was initially given about their origin.
Woman rescued first died later
The fourth victim was a woman who was initially resuscitated on Sunday after suffering a cardiac arrest and was flown to hospital.
The authorities had been warning of high waves on the coasts of several islands since Friday. However, the danger is easily underestimated because high waves can also occur in calm, windless weather. They can be formed by distant storms in the Atlantic and then crash onto the Canary Islands, which rise steeply out of the sea and are of volcanic origin.
Only about a month ago, on November 8, several giant waves on Tenerife washed numerous people into the sea - including many tourists, especially from France. Three people lost their lives in the various incidents on the coast at the time. A total of 15 were injured.