Three people have been rescued off the Canary Island of La Palma, just hours after 15 others were injured in a powerful tidal surge in Tenerife.
Emergency services said the trio were found desperately clinging to a buoy when they were rescued from the water shortly after midday in Breña Alta, on La Palma’s eastern coast.
Two women were taken to hospital suffering from hypothermia, while a man sustained separate injuries, The Sun reported.
A regional government spokesman said: “Coastguards and firefighters have rescued three people in distress at sea in La Palma.
“The alert was sounded at 12.11pm today at Bajamar Beach in the municipality of Breña Alta.
“An 86-year-old woman suffering hypothermia and a shoulder injury was taken by ambulance to La Palma General Hospital.
“A 61-year-old woman who, also with hypothermia, was taken to the same hospital.
The spokesperson added: “The alert we received said three people were in difficulties in the seas, clinging onto a buoy, and needed help.
“Coastguards rescued two of them, the two women, and firefighters a third, a man who was unharmed.”
It is not yet known how the trio ended up in the water or where they are from.
A weather alert was in place for the island, warning of waves up to 15 feet high.
The rescue comes less than 24 hours after ten holidaymakers were swept away by a massive wave in the northern Tenerife port city of Puerto de la Cruz.
Ten people were swept into the rough sea at the resort of Puerto de la Cruz in northern Tenerife on Saturday.
The group had been standing on a wooden platform leading to the rocks when a powerful wave crashed into them, knocking everyone into the cold water below.
One woman suffered a fatal heart attack, while three others were seriously injured with leg, arm, and hip trauma.
