British tourist, 75, found dead in suspected drowning in Lanzarote

A British tourist has died in a suspected drowning after going for a swim by a Lanzarote hotel.

Police on the holiday island confirmed on Friday the victim was a 75-year-old man from the UK.

His wife is said to have alerted beach lifeguards she had lost sight of him after he went into the water and she didn’t know where he was.

The unnamed man’s body was found after a search operation involving a helicopter and recovered by firefighters from an island safety and emergency service.

The alarm was raised around 2.15pm on Wednesday at a beach in the popular resort of Puerto del Carmen in the municipality of Tias.

Initial reports described the man, whose nationality was not made public until this morning, as a 78-year-old before that was corrected by officials, although another wrongly said he was 70.

A Guardia Civil investigation was ongoing on Friday but no foul play is suspected.

The results of a post-mortem which is already thought to have taken place are unlikely to be made public as is normal in Spain where they are sent directly to an investigating judge coordinating the probe into the man’s death.

The beach where he died has been identified as Los Pocillos Beach and the spot opposite a hotel called Jameos Hotel.

Coastguards were mobilised as part of the emergency response along with local police and the fire crew which recovered the Brit’s body.

Los Pocillos Beach is a large, wide sandy beach described as having calm, shallow water that is safe for families.

It is next to the busy Avenida de Las Playas in Puerto del Carmen.

Earlier today it emerged a five-year-old British boy had been rushed to hospital in Gran Canaria in a “critical condition” after coming close to drowning yesterday in his holiday pool in the Lanzarote resort of Playa Blanca

Puerto del Carmen is on Lanzarote’s south east coast and Playa Blanca nearby on its southernmost tip.

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