British man, 54, dies in Tenerife diving tragedy

A British man has died after he went into cardiac arrest while diving in Tenerife.

The man, believed to be aged 54, was pronounced dead in the small resort of Abades in the south-east of the holiday island after being rushed ashore following a medical alert.

Efforts to revive him before and after paramedics arrived failed and a judicial investigation is now underway into the events leading up to his death.

Civil Guard officers in the country announced two days ago they had reported a number of diving schools including two in Abades for alleged administrative infractions.

It happened just before 4pm local time today in Abades, regarded as a peaceful place in the municipality of Arico which is popular with locals and some foreigners who own holiday homes.

Its beautiful golden sand beach is known as a fantastic diving spot.

It’s unclear if the victim was on holiday or lived in Tenerife.

A spokesman for a regional government emergency response coordination centre confirmed: “A 54-year-old diver of British origin has died on the Tenerife coast.

“The alarm was raised around 3.50pm today.

“An air ambulance and two land ambulances were mobilised along with police and Civil Guard after a local emergency coordination centre took a call to say a diver who needed urgent medical attention was being transferred to land.

“A medical coordinator from the Canary Islands Emergency Service came to the conclusion the patient had gone into cardiac arrest during the call and advised the caller how to practice CPR to try to revive him until expert help arrived.

“The medical experts confirmed he was still in cardiac arrest when they arrived and tried to revive him themselves without obtaining a positive result.

“He was confirmed dead at the scene. Local police helped the air ambulance land on a pier in the area of Abades and cooperated with the rest of the emergency response teams.

“Civil Guard looked after the body until court officials arrived.”

Although Abades is now a small holiday resort, the hill above it was once the site of a whole leprosy village including a hospital and crematorium – built in 1943 – when leprosy was a manor disease on the island.

The leprosy station later became a military training facility.

During checks carried out in early February, officers discovered faulty equipment and unregistered workers at several diving schools in Tenerife.

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