September12th News Ibiza

HOSPITAL GO-AHEAD
The new hospital will be complete by the beginning of 2011, according to the health minister at the Govern Balear, Vicenc Thomas, who visited the island on Wednesday. The project, which has been high on the agenda of the new PSOE-run Consell since they took power in May, will be given the go ahead over the next few months. Thomas said that although they wanted to build the hospital quickly they had to be careful to get things right, as there would be no second chances. He continued by saying that an exhaustive study of the medical needs of the island over the next 20 years would be carried out first, before plans are drawn up and the contents of the building are decided. The project, which will cost between 60million and 70million, will be started at the beginning of 2009 and will take just two years to complete.
Thomas, on his first visit to the island since taking up the post, had a packed schedule, which included a visit to a medical centre in Ibiza Town to see the new electronic prescription system at work. He then moved on to a meeting with officials at Can Misses, followed by a meeting with the president of the Consell, Xico Tarres, before finishing off the day in the offices of the PSOE. After his meeting with Tarres, he held a press conference in which he explained his plans for the new hospital, which he admitted was desperately needed. He claimed that he was aware of the current problems at Can Misses, and said that they were being solved. He added that in any hospital there were periods where the hospital became saturated, but that the administration was now reorganising conditions to ensure that the best possible service would be offered to the public.
As far as the deals with the Vilas private clinic were concerned, he said that they were very important to the health service, and that he hoped that the collaboration would continue in the future. He said that the link up was vital in reducing the strain on the health service.
He also confirmed that the new medical centre in Ibiza Town would be complete by the end of the year. The new centre is set to assist 21,000 people, and is the first of four centres that will be opened over the next four years across the island. Thomas confirmed that the centre planned for San Jordi was in the latter stages of planning, and that it would be started in 2008.

AROUND THE ISLAND

Discount Guaranteed
The minister for transport at the Consell, Albert Prats, announced on Wednesday after a meeting with the director general of ClickAir, that the company had been very responsive and had assured him that the resident discount would be applied to the whole journey. ClickAir is the low cost carrier run by Iberia, and will operate as a separate entity. The airline is to run all of the planes, previously run by Iberia, between Ibiza and Barcelona from October. However the change of company meant that those travelling on to other national destinations with Iberia were losing their residents discount on the second half of the journey. However, Prats confirmed the company had ensured him that the discount will still be valid to those who continue their journey on with Iberia.
Prats also confirmed that the company had guaranteed him that the planes would be as modern as their Iberia counterparts, and that the frequency of flights would be the same or more than Iberia ran last year.
The only problem that so far has to be solved and looks to be slightly more complicated is the question of luggage, and the fact that it will have to be re-checked in at Barcelona. Prats said that the problem would be dealt with in a second meeting next month, but that at the moment travellers stopping in Barcelona with an onward destination would have to collect their luggage and check it in again with Iberia.

Schooling Costs
As a new school year approaches, it was revealed last week that parents should expect to pay around 700 per child for essential school items. New clothes are at the top of the list (average cost 350) with most having grown out of their uniforms from the previous year. Schoolbooks are also a costly burden, with parents spending up to 250 per course. The Govern Balear announced last week that they would be introducing free text books at all levels by 2011, with the first stage of the scheme starting this year, with parents of certain children being reimbursed for the cost of the books. Add to this the cost of stationary equipment, a rucksack and a pencil case (average cost 28), it is easy to see how the price can soar up to 700.

Business Studies
The new minister in charge of Business and Development at the Consell Insular, Joan Serra Mayans, has confirmed that he is to undertake an exhaustive study into the business sector, to try and ascertain the exact state of affairs within the area. He said that the complaints of shopkeepers year after year that business was down 30 per cent were unreliable, and said that a comprehensive study was called for. He continued by stating that the problem at the moment is that there is no dependable data available, making it harder to reach firm conclusions. He said that he was currently asking for statistics from the various business associations on the island, and that he would then start an exhaustive analysis of the findings.
One of the complaints of shopkeepers at the moment is that there is too much competition within the sector, and the oversupply has made it far less profitable. Mayans agreed that the number of businesses on the island had grown excessively over the last few years, and that, in his opinion, there was too much on offer.
Another common complaint is that the club tourism, on which the island is now so reliant, spends far less money in shops buying souvenirs and presents. Mayans said that this argument was far more complicated than it appeared, and would have to be studied further.
The report came on the back of figures released by the retail association of Ibiza that claimed that sales for the year so far were down 10 per cent with San Antonio, es Canar and Playa den Bossa the worst to suffer.

Mobile Unit
The Govern Balear claimed that the new mobile radar system, introduced at the beginning of the year, had significantly cut down on drug smuggling to the islands. The system, which involves the use of a vehicle equipped with radar sensors and special night vision, is able to spot boats ten metres in size from as far away as thirty miles. This new control has meant the interception of several boats smuggling drugs onto the islands, and has also helped in the fight against the arrival of illegal immigrants from the North African coast.
The Govern claimed that the two units, which are currently based in Majorca, acted as a deterrent against drug and immigration traffickers, who believe that the risks of being caught are now too high. The introduction has been so successful that it was confirmed that a permanent radar unit would be set up in Ibiza next year to further control the coastal area.

School Delays
With colleges and schools due to start back this week (most are back on 14th September), there was a call by the directors of the institutions and colleges for more help in dealing with immigrant students. A good example of the changing face of schooling on the island is that of Vara del Rey college in Ibiza Town, where 21 of the 25 three year olds enrolled on the course being immigrants, with half unable to speak Spanish. It is something that most colleges have been asking for years, but it seems that their pleas will go unanswered yet again.
The situation was fairly alarming in most of the schools around the island, with teachers (who returned last Monday) finding a great deal of the repair work that they had asked to be done during the summer holidays, incomplete. In the college at Can Misses work was still taking placing on the dining room which had been added to the school building, and it looked unlikely that it would be finished for at least another few weeks. In Cas Serres, work on installing a new lift will definitely not be finished in time, as the work started just last week and will continue for at least another two months. It was a situation that was mirrored around the island, and one that is hoped will be solved in the coming weeks.

Cancer Study
An expansive study into 31 serious illnesses, undertaken on a national scale, has revealed that Ibiza exceeds the national average in thirteen diseases. The most serious cases involve ovarian cancer, skin cancer, cancer of the uterus and leukaemia in which several municipalities exceed the national average by up to 50 per cent. The study was carried out on data collected between 1989 -1998 from all of the municipalities around the country.
The most alarming case within Ibiza is that of ovarian cancer, where the five municipalities on the island all appeared within the first seven municipalities in the country, with the highest risk of suffering the disease. Only the island of El Hierro in the Canaries, and a municipal in Huelva, recorded higher figures than Ibiza Town, San Jose, San Antonio, Santa Eulalia and San Juan. The study continued by claiming that there are 3,300 new cases of this disease discovered every year, and that it causes the death of 1,700 people each year. Its principal risk factors include age, a family history of the disease, and infertility, although the study does not reveal why the distribution around the country is so varied.
Skin cancer was also far more common within the five municipalities on the island and the Mediterranean coast in general due to the fact, according to the study, that it was far more populated by Northern Europeans who had lighter skin which was more susceptible to this type of cancer.
The 18 diseases in which Ibiza appears below the national average include cancer of the stomach, lung and prostate, as well as tuberculosis, diabetes and heart disease.

Can Chaos
The situation remains tense at Can Misses as doctors call for more medical personnel throughout the year, as the hospital again struggles to cope with increased numbers in summer. Three operations had to be suspended last week as the hospital reached 95 per cent occupancy, an extremely high level considering that 90 per cent is judged to be saturation point. This is not the first time operations have had to be cancelled this year due to a lack of beds, principally caused by an increase in the population.
During the first seven months of 2007, 31,932 people have been attended to in the accident and emergency department of the hospital. This works out at an average of 151 patients per day, the highest figures ever registered. During May, June and July staff attended an average of 169 patients everyday, a figure that was set to rise during the busy August period. In total, 55,534 people passed through A&E in 2006, but this record is set to be smashed this year.
The busiest time of day remains 12p.m. 3p.m. with patients averaging waiting times of several hours. A spokesman for the hospital, Paco Muela, explained that although during the summer the incidents attended in A&E were problems that could be solved fairly quickly (jellyfish stings and gastroenteritis being the two most popular problems), the sheer number of cases that doctors had to deal with meant far greater waiting times.
There are now over 130,000 medical cards in existence in Ibiza and Formentera. The latest figure of 132,393 is 19.15 per cent higher than in 2003, and has again called for a new hospital to replace the current installations at Can Misses. There has been an increase so far this year of 3.59 per cent, with over one million medical cards now in circulation in the Balearics. However Muela insisted that before the Govern could start talking about a new hospital, immediate action needed to be taken to improve the situation at A&E.

Sales Rocket
Agroeivissa, the fruit and vegetable cooperative on the island, announced an increase in sales of 20 per cent up until the end of August, in comparison to 2006. There had initially been fears that the tomato plague which was discovered two months ago could affect sales, but the president of Agroeivissa, Joan Mari, confirmed that the plague had been isolated to one farm in es Canar, and that sales of tomatoes had in fact increased by 25 per cent in comparison to 2006.
In total during August, the cooperative sold 500 tonnes of fruit and vegetables, 100 less than in July. However it amounted to an increase of 27 per cent on the figures of last year.
For the third year running the star of the season has again been the watermelon with 450 tonnes sold in July and August alone. The demand was so great in August that the cooperative did not actually have enough of the fruit to meet demand, and had to buy in extra stock.

Taxi Clampdown
The clampdown on unlicensed taxis continued last week with police arresting two more suspected illegal taxi drivers. The arrests on Tuesday took the total of people cautioned to 32 and left the president of the Taxi Association in Ibiza Town, Jose Sarafin, happy with the initial results. Both arrests were made near to the Pacha nightclub last week, as plain clothed officers mingled together with the public.
The authorities promised to crackdown on unlicensed vehicles after a threat of strike action by taxi drivers, after one of their members was assaulted in July.

Smoking Proposals
The health department revealed on Tuesday that they would study the new anti-tobacco laws introduced a year ago. The current law allows restaurants and bars less than 100 square metres in size to decide whether or not smoking is permitted. Those establishments over 100 square metres currently have to choose whether to make the entire restaurant no-smoking, or to introduce a non-smoking area with clear separations. A spokesman for the department admitted that it had been an error to let the establishments less than 100 metres decide for themselves, and said that global rules were necessary which would mean a possible smoking ban in such establishments from next year.
The department continued by revealing that Spanish citizens were amongst the most permissive in Europe, with smokers not fully aware of the risks involved, especially to those around them, including children and pregnant women.
The health minister at the Govern, Vicenc Thomas, during his visit on Wednesday said that he would try and encourage smaller bars and restaurants to enter into the spirit of the new law, but that if owners did not respond, new laws would be enforced.

Land Buy Out
Madrid has promised to spend 40million over the next four years buying land within the Balearics. The promise came after a meeting between the minister for the environment, Cristina Narbona, and the president of the Govern Balear, Francesc Antich. Narbonne said that it was vital to buy, either by agreement or by force, fincas and land of interest to the public, in order to protect the areas of natural beauty across the islands. Around ten pieces of land and property have initially been put forward, none of which have so far been revealed.

Security Alert
More than half of the victims who have lost their life on the roads in the Balearics this year were not wearing a seatbelt or crash helmet. As the Government launches yet another safety campaign under the slogan There are many reasons to wear a seatbelt choose yours! it was revealed that of the 74 people that have died within the Balearics so far in 2007, 38 were not wearing a seatbelt or crash helmet.

Controversial Cabau
The funeral was held on Tuesday of the controversial businessman, Xavier Cabau. Cabau, who once owned several hotels and nightclubs including Pisces Park, Don Quijote and Central Park, as well as the discotheques, Idea and Extasis, was found dead on 30th August in his house in Puig den Valls. The cause of death has still not been established, but police have ruled out the involvement of any third parties and confirmed that the most likely cause was a huge brain haemorrhage.
Cabau was a controversial figure who has continually appeared in the papers for the wrong reasons. He was born in Barcelona in 1954 but moved to the island at a young age with his father, who built a chain of hotels which his son would later inherit. From a young age he worked with his father, and later on became involved in nightclubs. He first appeared in the papers after his staff at Angels nightclub went on a hunger strike, after he announced that the club would be closing. After five days, the workers abandoned the strike after their health took a serious decline.
A more consequential accusation was soon to follow, when the Belgian newspaper, Le Soir, revealed that the businessman was being accused of abusing his two children of nine and 13 years old, fruit of a relationship with a Belgian woman, Dominique Lebrun. The accusations came from another ex-partner of Cabau, Dutch woman, Richarda van Kasbergen, who claimed that he had also violently abused her and several other ex-girlfriends. She had, in the meantime, fled to Holland with their four children and the children of Lebrun, who in 1989 had died of cancer. The case was dismissed in court after a lack of evidence, although a police officer was sent to jail for offering to destroy the evidence for the defendant, in return for three million pesetas.
In 1995 he was again arrested, after stabbing two Colombian tourists who had been waiting for some friends in the building where Cabau lived,. The two were both taken to hospital but later recovered from their injuries. He stayed in prison for a total of five months, only leaving after having paid a considerable amount of bail.
In 2002 he had planned to open Angels nightclub again, but was refused permission at the last moment, a decision he regarded as revenge for things which had happened years earlier. Cabau had asked for permission to open a commercial centre in Santa Eulalia, a decision that was denied by the then mayor, Vicente Guasch. Cabau refused to accept the decision, and in 1997 the Supreme Court ruled not only that the decision to deny the centre was wrong, but also that the urban plan the Town Hall had been elaborating over the last few years was in fact illegal. This incident caused huge embarrassment for the Town Hall at the time, and was something that those involved never forgot.
Cabau was in the process of putting together plans to reopen the disco Idea, which has remained in ruins next to es Paradis at the entrance to the town for the last 15 years.
Cabau leaves 13 children from several different relationships. The most celebrated being Yolanthe Cabau van Kasbergen, who now lives in Holland and as well as being a model and actress, is also dating the most popular singer in Holland, Jan Smith.

Price Rises
The price of baked goods is set to rise from 17th September after a meeting of the bakers association on the island. The president of the association announced that they would be advising all their members to increase prices between twelve and fifteen per cent. This is due to the rise in recent months of the core products used in the production of bread and pastries, including cereal, lactose products and eggs. The rise in cereal is due in part to its use in bio-fuels, a product that is partly subsidised by various Governments around Europe, which has led to rising prices.
The president, Gonzalo Gonzalez, explained that all of his members would be free to do what they liked, but reiterated that those who maintained their current prices would be liable to lose money over the coming months. The rise will mean an increase of around five centimes in the cost of bread.

Donations Fall
Blood donations on the island fell drastically during July and August, as a lack of medical staff during those two months meant that morning donations had to be cancelled. The president of the association for blood donations, Antonio Sepulveda, claimed that it was the worst crisis that he could remember. In July donations fell 15 per cent less (which means a reduction of around 90 bags) and in August by 26 per cent, in comparison to the same months last year.
Blood donated in Ibiza is taken to Palma, from where it is distributed to the various medical centres across the islands. However, due to the lack of donations and the high amount of tourists, the Balearics again had to borrow blood from neighbouring communities.
Despite this lack of blood during the prime tourist months of the year, Ibiza and Formentera actually has a donation of blood per inhabitant of 39.2, two points higher than the national average. However, they still fall short of the 45 donations per inhabitant recommended by the World Health Organisation.

Drug Raids
Twenty people were arrested on Friday in an operation by the Organised Crime Department of the Guardia Civil. The ongoing investigation culminated with raids on several apartments in San Antonio, San Jose and Ibiza Town. The raids brought about the seizure of 12,000 ecstasy tablets, three kilos of pure cocaine, as well as large quantities of liquid ecstasy and hashish. The arrests took place at 7a.m. on Friday morning as masked officers raided apartments across the island at exactly the same time. The majority of the men arrested were Moroccan and Colombian, although a few Spanish citizens were also detained. Police were quick to point out that the investigation would continue, and they did not rule out doubling the amount of arrests over the next few days.
This was the fourth main police operation of the summer against organised crime on the island, after the arrests of seven Romanians in August, was followed by the detention of fourteen Italians for drug offences. This was followed several days later by the culmination of operation Alhambra in which six people were arrested for the sale of fake goods.

IBIZA TOWN

Transport Costs
As the extraction of the fuel off the sunken vessel, Don Pedro, continued, there was still 300 tonnes of fuel mixed in with sand and algae waiting to be transported to the mainland to be treated. The decision on what needs to be done with this sand and algae has still not been definitively taken, but the most obvious option is to send it to the peninsula where it can be treated properly. However, one of the problems to still be decided is who is going to pick up the transportation bill the central government, the owners of the Don Pedro, Iscomar or their insurance company. However a statement from Iscomar on Wednesday revealed that the work of transporting the contaminated fuel had already been agreed with a company, and that it would in the end be taken to a treatment centre in Valladolid.
As far as the extraction of the fuel, Iscomar said that it was all going according to plan. They revealed that they had been hampered by the weather in recent weeks, but that the past week had enabled them to get back on schedule. However they claimed that the work would not be finished until late October.

New Projects
The councillor for tourism in Ibiza Town, Vicente Ferrer, announced on Monday that the Town Hall planned to spend a total of 849,957 over the next year on their Plan of Excellence. This would include 150,000 to improve the Talamanca beach area with showers, specially adapted toilets and a first aid hut being built, as well as a general facelift of the area. The work is due to begin this October and will take around three months.
Other projects planned for the coming year include 280,000 which is to be spent on signposting throughout the historic old town, the promotion of cultural visits in which 115,000 will be invested, as well as 120,000 to be spent on the introduction of audio-guides, which will enable visitors to hear the history of the old town as they walk through the streets.
Ferrer finally announced that there would be an additional 95,000 spent on the promotion of the three beaches within the municipality affected by the oil spill earlier in the year, (Talamanca, ses Figueretas and Playa den Bossa).

SAN ANTONIO

Electrical Fire
A total of 160 homes were left without electricity for around eight hours in San Antonio on Thursday, after a fire broke out in the underground electrical transformers situated below ground in the centre of town. The incident occurred around 8.50a.m. when smoke started pouring from the underground vents in Calle General Balanzat, in the centre of town. The police were immediately on the scene and evacuated around twelve homes in the Tanit and Portus Magnus buildings. This was simply as a precaution, and authorities were quick to point out that nobody was ever in any danger. Two fire engines were quickly on the scene and the flames were quickly brought under control. The main problem came from the huge quantity of smoke that had been produced by the blaze. The area was ventilated using special machines carried on board the fire trucks, and the fire chief concluded the operation at 11.15 a.m.
The electric providers, GESA, soon got to work and by 6p.m. most of the homes affected had regained power, although there were a few minor problems which could not be fixed until later that evening.

Balcony Fall
A British tourist lay critically injured in hospital after accidentally falling from the second floor balcony of his hotel. The youngster, who was on the island for the season, had gone onto the terrace of his apartment after feeling unwell, after having been drinking during the afternoon. As he was leaning against the railing of the balcony in the Central Park apartments, he fell to the ground below, a fall of around seven metres. Emergency services were soon on the scene and the injured man was stabilised before being rushed to the Vilas private clinic. He suffered injuries to the facial area and although serious, his life was not in any danger.

SAN JOSE

Naked Arrest
Police arrested a man on Thursday who had spent a day and a half wandering around San Jose naked. The man was eventually caught hiding up a tree near the Club de Campo. At first he refused to get down, but after a long stand-off eventually climbed to the ground and was immediately arrested. The twenty-six year old Spanish man, resident on the island for the last four years, said that he was unsure how he had lost his clothes and claimed that a drug had been put in his drink at a party he had attended two days before. He was eventually released after substitute clothes could be found.

SANTA EULALIA

Car Accident
A man was arrested on Tuesday after fleeing the scene of an accident in Santa Gertrudis. The incident occurred at around 1a.m. in the centre of the town. The man was later arrested after a phone call from a neighbour in the area advised police of the registration of the vehicle. The man failed his initial breath-test, and was arrested after he refused to take a second one.

Jesus Change
The Consell Insular confirmed on Tuesday that they have asked the Govern Balear to study the alternatives to the bridge currently outside Jesus. The bridge, which unites Ibiza Town with the Santa Eulalia road was highly criticised by many people when the plans were first revealed. The president of the Consell announced within days of winning the elections that the overhead pass would be studied. However, this is the first clear move that the Consell would be ready to spend the money to demolish the pass and rebuild an alternative.
The minister in charge of roads and transport, Albert Prats, was an outspoken critic of the overhead pass and looks determined to find an alternative. However, he claimed that he would not let his personal views cloud the final decision, and if no alternative could be found then the pass would remain in place.

Centre Ready
It was announced last week that the first phase of the Congress Centre in Santa Eulalia would be complete by the end of this month. The building is yet to be officially inaugurated, although there was an Open Day during the fiestas of the municipality in May. The first show booked into the centre will be a Chinese arts and crafts fair, which will take place 24th-26th September. This has been arranged through the Peking Art Foundation to promote the Olympic Games next year.
The auditorium where the display will take place can hold a capacity of 400 people. This is in addition to several multi-purpose rooms that are adjoined to the main room.
The plans are yet to be finalised for the second stage of the project but the mayor, Vicent Mari, said that they would be finished soon and that work would begin next year on Phase two, which is to include an auditorium for 2,000 people.

FORMENTERA

Waste Costs
The removal of waste from Formentera, and its subsequent transportation to Ibiza is set to cost the Consell around 750,000 per year. An agreement was made last year about the removal of refuse from the island, between the Town Hall of Formentera and the Consell Insular. A request was sent to the Central Government for aid in paying for the scheme, but the proposal has yet to be answered. In total 6,323 tonnes of waste has so far been removed. A price of 119 per tonne was originally agreed with the company responsible for the work, which means that a year after the project began, the authorities on the island have a bill of exactly 752,437.
On his last visit to the island the environment minister at the Govern Balear, Miguel Angel Grimalt, said that a solution would have to be found, and that it was unrealistic to think that the island authorities should cover all of the costs of waste removal.

Numbers Up
The port of Savina, in Formentera, is set to break the record for passengers in 2007, with figures until the end of June three per cent higher than last year. So far 429,532 travellers have passed through the port, a figure that when added to the numbers in July and August should help the island to surpass the record 1,161,877 passengers that used the port in 2006.
Movement in the port of Ibiza is also substantially up (11 per cent) with 752,314 people passing through the port during the first six months of the year. Add to this the 28,451 tourists that arrived aboard cruise liners, (18.4 per cent more than last year), and it is easy to see why hopes of a record year are now being realised.

CRIME & INCIDENTS

Car Park Incident
An Italian tourist remained in hospital last week after a dispute broke out which could cost her the sight in one eye. The incident occurred on Wednesday morning in the car park of DC-10. The victim was in a car with a friend when they accidentally scraped the side of a vehicle containing some Spanish youths. There was an exchange of insults before a man in the car which had been hit threw a glass at one of the tourists. It hit her in the eye, damaging it severely. She was rushed to hospital where initial medical reports stated that she could lose her eye. The attacker, a 25 year old youth from Majorca, was later arrested and is set to stand trial for the incident, although he denies the claims. Witnesses will be called within the next few days, including security staff at the bar and a plain clothes police officer who was in the car park at the time.

Tourist Run Over
A British tourist was seriously injured after she was run over outside Amnesia nightclub on Friday morning. The incident occurred at around 3.30a.m. when the 18 year old stepped out of what is presumed to be an unlicensed taxi. She was wearing dark clothes and as she stepped into the road, she was hit by a car travelling on the same side of the new exit road, leaving the club. The car did not stop after the accident, and quickly made a getaway. Police were initially looking for a Mitsubishi 4x4, but claimed that reports were very confused and it could have been a normal car. However what is clear is that the car involved in the accident was also working as an illegal taxi, hence the reason that it did not stop.
The girl was rushed to hospital suffering severe head injuries, a broken tibia, facial injuries and a dislocation of the left shoulder. Although she was severely injured, doctors said that her life was not in any danger. At the time of going to press the investigation is still continuing, but police hinted that it was looking probable that the girl had run out onto the slip road and because of her dark clothes, had not been seen by the driver of the car involved.

NEWS FROM THE MAINLAND

Fishing Accident
Three fishermen lost their lives in a tragic accident off the coast of Cadiz on Wednesday. The men were among 16 crew members who were thrown into the water after their boat capsized in rough seas. At the moment five men remain missing as the search continues.
The incident occurred just before 2.30p.m. on Wednesday afternoon twelve miles off the coast of Tarifa, Cadiz. The Port Authorities in Cadiz received an emergency call from a vessel in the area that a boat had capsized due to the rough seas and high winds. The winds were recorded at over 100 miles per hour at the time. They immediately sent out three rescue boats, two helicopters and a plane to try and help in the rescue mission. Eight of the crew were rescued, but it was too late for three of the men whose bodies were found later that afternoon. Five of the crew remain missing and as the search effort, involving over150 people reached its 4th day, none had so far been located.

Boat Tragedy
Ten illegal immigrants lost their lives off the coast of Gran Canaria on Friday after a tragic accident. The men were part of a group of around 18, all aged between 16 and 20 years of age, who had left the coast of Morocco two days earlier in a small boat. Their destination was Gran Canaria, and when they were just twenty metres from the beach, they hit a rock. Thinking that they had arrived at the beach, the men jumped out of the boat and found themselves floating in the sea. Although they were so close to the beach and the conditions of the sea were very favourable, many were simply too exhausted after the journey to make it to the beach, and quickly drowned. Neighbours in the area were alerted after they heard the screams of help from the immigrants. They called police who were soon at the scene. However, they could do nothing but round up the bodies which were all floating in the same area of the sea. They did, however, manage to rescue two men, and six did make it to the beach on their own.
The tragedy is one of many this year, in which the death toll stands at around 110, although an exact figure would be impossible to ascertain.

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