El Caminito del Rey gorge walk reinforces safety with 47 new guides trained to act in emergencies

Four months ago, El Caminito del Rey gorge walk became the first hiking route in Spain to be accredited as a cardio-safe area following the installation of defibrillators on the Malaga province tourist attraction.

The move means people can be reached with a defibrillator in less than three minutes in the case of an emergency. And now the tourist hotspot has taken another step forward in safety and trained up almost 50 guides who know what to do in the case of an emergency.

The self-protection plan means the trail - the key part of which is three kilometres long and barely one metre wide - now has double the manpower to call upon if someone is in distress. The 47 professionals are from the companies Aloratur, Ardalestur, Suntravel and La Garganta. They have been trained in risk management, emergency protocols and first aid, including the national CPR-DESA course of the Spanish Society of Critical Intensive Care Medicine and coronary units-SEMICYUC.

Their training was carried out by chair of security and emergencies of the University of Málaga, together with technicians of El Caminito del Rey, and managed by Malaga council and UTE Caminito del Rey.

El Caminito del Rey becoming the first route in Spain to be accredited as a cardio-safe area by the Andalusian Health Service (SAS) was a historic milestone last October after seven defibrillators at key points along the route were installed.

The defibrillators, connected to emergency services operators, are organised in such a way that they can be easily and quickly reached from any point along the caminito. In addition to the installation of the devices, training in first aid and cardio-respiratory resuscitation was also carried out for all Caminito staff.