Man, 57, airlifted in critical condition after near-drowning at Las Canteras beach

A 57-year-old man was hospitalised in critical condition on Saturday 25 July after a near-drowning at Las Canteras beach in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, according to the Centro Coordinador de Emergencias y Seguridad (CECOES) 112 of the Gobierno de Canarias.

According to official information, the alert came in at 10:22 and reported that a man was already out of the water but showing signs of drowning on the Las Canteras shoreline. At the time of the initial assessment, the man presented symptoms consistent with a serious near-drowning, according to the Servicio de Urgencias Canario (SUC).

The emergency response

The 112 coordination centre immediately deployed the necessary emergency resources. According to the Gobierno de Canarias incident report, a paramedic ambulance and a basic life-support ambulance from the SUC were sent to the scene, along with Cruz Roja Española and Policía Local personnel.

SUC staff treated the man on the beach, carrying out the necessary procedures to stabilise him before transferring him to Hospital Universitario Insular de Gran Canaria, where he continued to receive medical care. Cruz Roja and Policía Local assisted in the operation.

Local press coverage was consistent with the official account. Both La Provincia and eldiario.es (canariasahora) reported that the incident occurred at 10:22 and that the man was already out of the water when the emergency was activated. The digital outlet Diario Palmero, publishing later, reported that beach lifeguards also took part in the response alongside security personnel, and that the circumstances of the incident were under investigation. That detail regarding lifeguard involvement does not appear in the CECOES 112 report or in any of the other sources consulted.

Other incidents around the same dates

The Las Canteras case was not the only one recorded across the archipelago during that period. On 24 July, a 70-year-old man suffered a serious near-drowning at Los Cristianos beach in the Tenerife municipality of Arona; he was stabilised by the SUC and transferred to Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de Candelaria, according to the Gobierno de Canarias report and Diario de Avisos.

Drowning incidents in the Canary Islands: context

These incidents coincided with the release of data on water-related fatalities. According to the platform Canarias 1.500 Km de Costa, the archipelago has recorded 39 drowning deaths so far in 2026, including five minors. The organisation put the total number of drowning fatalities between 2015 and 2025 at at least 734 — 13 of them minors — and estimated some 2,200 water-related incidents over the same period.

The platform's president, Chano Quintana, said that rip currents are one of the leading causes of drowning deaths, Diario de Avisos reported. These figures were released in the context of World Drowning Prevention Day.

Based on the sources consulted, no update on the condition of the man treated at Las Canteras has been made available.