Alicante bathers ignore flag warnings to cool off

WIND, waves and strong currents stopped people being able to escape the extreme heat with a cooling dip in the sea during the first weekend of July.
Red (bathing forbidden) and yellow (bathing dangerous) flags had to be flown off almost all the province’s beaches including San Juan and Urbanova in Alicante, El Altet and Carabassi in Elche and Muchavista and Carrerlamar in El Campello.
Yet as temperatures in some areas hit up to 40 degrees Celsius, hot and bothered would-be bathers decided to ignore the flags and lifeguards could hardly keep up trying to stop people from swimming and pulling them out when they got into trouble, they later reported.
The lifeguard services wish to remind bathers than red flags forbid entering the water, while yellow ones recommend not going further than waist deep. Their warning comes as a number of incidents were reported. A man, aged 62, died on the beach of La Mata after suffering from cardiac arrest. Two other men, aged 89 and 78, also suffered cardiac arrests at the beaches of Guardamar del Segura and El Campello and were taken to hospital.
Bathing in the sea when yellow and red flags are flying can place people at unnecessary risk and take lifeguards away from dealing with other incidents.