Heartbreaking details emerge after 3 Tenerife tourists dead in beach tragedy

Tenerife is on red alert as 15ft waves continue to batter the holiday island (Image: Getty)

Some of the people swept away by monster waves in Tenerife were cruise passengers, it has been revealed. Saturday is being described as the "most tragic black day" in the island's recent history, with three deaths and 15 injuries in just five hours. The Canary Islands were on pre-alert for coastal phenomena.

Ten people were dragged into the rough sea in the resort of Puerto de la Cruz in the north of Tenerife. They were standing on a wooden platform leading to rocks when a huge wave engulfed them. One woman died and the other nine were injured, three of them seriously, with leg, arm and hip trauma. The woman who died was Dutch and 59 years old. She was rescued from the water but was in cardiorespiratory arrest. The SUC emergency service dispatched five ambulances, and its staff continued to practice advanced cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but without achieving any results.

Some of the people caught up in the Puerto de la Cruz drama were passengers on a cruise ship that had arrived on the island in the morning (Image: supplied)

Some of the people caught up in the Puerto de la Cruz drama were passengers on a cruise ship that had arrived on the island in the morning, according to Sebastián Quintana, president of "Canarias, 1,500 km of coastline". The liner had docked in the capital of Santa Cruz and had taken passengers on a bus tour of the island, stopping at Puerto de la Cruz along the way.

Mr Quintana said none of those affected in this incident in Puerto were bathers but were watching the waves from the pier.

In another tragic incident on the beach of Roque de las Bodegas in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, six bathers, all French, were dragged into the sea and reportedly ignored a preventive beacon that was placed in the area, as reported yesterday by the Local Police.

Mr Quintana said yesterday was "the most tragic day" over the last 10 years of records, with three deaths and 15 injuries in just five hours and on the same island. A man died when he fell into the sea in the area of Charco del Viento, in the municipality of La Guancha, also in the north of the island.

Three people have died after a weather alert for rough seas was issued (Image: supplied)

A helicopter from the Government of the Canary Islands participated in the rescue work, which rescued the affected person and evacuated him to the helisurface of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife dock, where SUC personnel confirmed his death due to the seriousness of the injuries he presented.

The third death was a man who died on the beach of El Cabezo de Granadilla de Abona, in the south of the island, who was found floating in the sea. The exact circumstances of this are still being investigated.

"Canarias, 1,500km of coastline" says that 65% of the people who have lost their lives in 2025 due to drowning and aquatic accidents had entered the sea or had approached coastal areas with strong waves when a pre-alert or alert had been activated in the Canary Islands due to coastal phenomena. Tomorrow, the organisation is to start another round of informative talks to warn people of the underestimated dangers of the Canarian sea.

The Emergency and Security Coordination Centre 112 is maintaining an alert for coastal phenomena on the north and west coast of El Hierro, La Palma, La Gomera, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote; as well as the north coast of Tenerife and Gran Canaria, with waves that are likely to reach 15ft, and has called for extreme caution at high tide.