Swimmer, 53, dies after being rescued from the sea at Butihondo beach in Pájara

A 53-year-old man died on Sunday 2 August 2026 after being rescued from the sea in cardiac arrest at Butihondo beach, in the municipality of Pájara, Fuerteventura. The Centro Coordinador de Emergencias y Seguridad (CECOES) 112 of the Gobierno de Canarias reported the incident, as published by the Gobierno de Canarias news portal and several local outlets.

How the incident unfolded

According to information provided by the 112 emergency centre, the alert was received at 17.28, when a report came in that a person on an inflatable mattress was in difficulty in the sea at the beach. Upon receiving the alert, CECOES immediately activated the necessary emergency resources.

Before emergency services arrived, a private boat managed to rescue the man from the water and bring him to shore. Once on land, a lifeguard from the Beach Rescue Service found that the swimmer was in cardiac arrest and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Personnel from the Servicio de Urgencias Canario (SUC) subsequently continued with both basic and advanced cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but without success, and the man's death was confirmed at the scene.

Services involved

The operation, activated by CECOES 112, involved a medicalised ambulance and a basic life support ambulance from the SUC, along with officers from the Guardia Civil and the Policía Local.

The Guardia Civil took charge of the body pending the arrival of the judicial authority and is conducting the relevant proceedings. The Policía Local assisted the other emergency services throughout the response.

All sources consulted agree on the key facts of the incident: the location, the victim's age, the time the alert was received, the rescue by a private boat, and the sequence of resuscitation efforts. The newspaper La Provincia places the incident at "around 17.30", while all other sources consulted, including the 112 centre, give the alert time as 17.28.

Drowning deaths in the Canary Islands: context

Several outlets frame this incident within a broader rise in drowning fatalities across the archipelago. According to eldiario.es and La Voz de Fuerteventura, citing a report by Canarias, 1500 Km de Costa — an association focused on preventing water-related accidents — 39 people drowned in the Canary Islands between January and July 2026, a 30 % increase on the same period the previous year.

According to that same source, cited by La Voz de Fuerteventura, Fuerteventura ranked as the second island with the highest number of drowning fatalities, with nine deaths, behind Tenerife, which recorded fifteen. The report also noted that July had been the deadliest month for water accidents so far in 2026, and that more than half of all drowning deaths recorded in 2026 occurred when coastal weather pre-alerts or alerts were in force.