Fire service to the rescue over Easter holidays
Another victim dies after falling into the River Algar
THE ALICANTE fire brigade’s mountain rescue team had to carry out at least five operations over the long Easter weekend after walkers and climbers got into trouble.
The rescues involved use of the Alpha 1 helicopter and a night-time ascent of the Peñón de Ifach.
A 73-year-old British woman who fainted and damaged a wrist when she fell on the Sierra de Bernia on Monday was lifted off the mountain by helicopter.
The incident occurred during the afternoon near the old Bernia fort.
A brigade spokesperson explained that the walker was flown to their base in San Vicente, where an ambulance was waiting to take her for treatment.
On Sunday night the team was called on to make a ‘difficult’ rescue of three climbers on Calpe’s Peñón de Ifach, who ‘ran out of daylight’ when they were making their descent.
Using head torches and flashlights, the mountain rescue experts ascended to the point where the climbers had become stuck and helped them to descend to safety.
The spokesperson noted that there had been no injuries to report.
That morning they helped a 54-year-old walker who had suffered a fall in a wooded area of Benidorm.
The rescue was carried out on foot and the injured person was taken to a waiting ambulance.
Bolulla death
Also on Sunday, the fire service noted that they were ‘very sorry’ to have to report the death of a young person who fell into a waterfall at Bolulla, near the Fuentes de Algar.
The 24-year-old victim was ‘unable to get out of the waters’ of the fast-flowing River Algar.
The spokesperson explained that they launched a search by air and on foot for the missing person.
Six hours later a lifeless body was located at the dam on the river, he noted.
State news agency EFE reported that the accident had occurred in the same area as the fatal incident on April 8 in which two people died after falling into the river and being swept away by the torrent.
The helicopter team had also carried out a rescue at around midday on Sunday in the Guadalest Valley.
They were called to the confluence of the Mela and Sort ravines in the municipality of L’Abdet.
The spokesperson explained that a 25-year-old man had suffered a fall in an ‘area of water’ at the junction of the ravines.
A video published by the fire service shows a rescuer being winched down to pick up the injured man.
It also shows the fast-flowing mountain stream descending the gulley, which leads down into the valley.
He was taken to the helicopter base at San Vicente and placed in an ambulance, said the spokesperson.