'Nobody can guarantee the mains water pipe won't blow on us again,' says manager of Benalmádena hotel

"Nobody can guarantee the pipe won't burst on us again."With these words, the director of Hotel Los Patos, Carlos Beltrán, expressed his concern to SUR about the precarious situation of the supply network on the Costa del Sol. Not once, but twice, the water main on the western coast has burst in the vicinity of this Benalmádena hotel.

The first time was in October 2016 and the second in January 2023. In the Galera Park area of Estepona the same thing happened on two occasions in January and February 2016; in El Chaparral in Mijas, an identical case, in January 2023; and in Cabopino in Marbella in 2015.

Some local residents in the affected areas who have experienced the panic when the bursts happen said the same thing.

"The first time it happened we thought it was a bomb. People threw themselves to the ground thinking it was an explosive and went crawling through the breakfast room looking for shelter," said Beltrán, who added that in just a few minutes the accommodation was completely flooded.

"The water shot up to the fifth floor and broke the windows. We had a very tense time. Shouting, people standing on tables, a pregnant woman who we were particularly worried about... real chaos," he described.

The first time it happened in 2016 there were more than 600 guests at the hotel. "The luck we had was that it was half past 9 in the morning and the pool didn't open until 10. Half an hour later and instead of talking about material damage we would be talking about deaths," the manager told SUR.