THE number of people killed in yesterday’s Tenerife tragedy rose to four this morning as one of the women injured died in hospital.
She had been helicoptered from the scene in an air ambulance after going into cardiac arrest and being revived.
At the time of the incident, three people died and another three were injured after being swept into rough seas.
Yesterday afternoon, a woman was said to be sitting on the ground in a bikini as paramedics tended to her.
Health professionals were also reported to have placed a bandage on the top of her head as onlookers watched on.
Her back was also said to be bloodied and bruised.
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The tourists had all crossed police tape to reach the area where the tragedy occurred, the local mayor has claimed.
At around 4:00pm, the drama unfolded at a natural pool known as Crab Island Pool, on Tenerife’s western coast.
Emilio Navarro, mayor of the municipality of Santiago del Teide confirmed overnight some of the younger victims from Italy and Slovakia are among the dead.
He said there was also and older group of holidaymakers.
Navarro claimed they had all accessed an area that had been declared out-of-bounds because of rough sea conditions.
He said a pre-alert warning was in place to inform locals and visitors about dangerous tidal surges in the north and west of Tenerife.
Officials on the holiday island are yet to release the nationalities of the victims but say two men died, one aged 35, along with a 55-year-old woman.
Local reports claim Romanian nationals were also among those hurt.
Mayor Mr Navarro told a local TV station: “All those hurt or killed were tourists.
“There’s a group that was younger, Slovakians and Italians, and there was another group all tourists, who had crossed the tape that had been put by local police or Civil Guard who have been working all week in this area and at other points along the coast.
“It’s impossible at times to make people understand the dangers of the ocean.
“The tape has to be replaced several times a day in some cases because it gets broken and people even insult police because they don’t want to leave.”
Alerts are understood to have been sounded by a regional emergency response coordination centre which warned visitors against taking photos or videos where waves break to avoid being dragged out to sea.
A spokesman for the centre said: “One of the two men who died was 35 and the woman killed 55.
“Another woman had gone into cardiac arrest at the scene and was revived by emergency responders and taken to Nuestra Senora de Candelaria Hospital in the Tenerife capital Santa Cruz by air ambulance.”
According to officials a 39-year-old woman also suffered moderate trauma injuries was transferred to hospital.
Coastguards, five ambulances including an air ambulance, a Canary Island government rescue helicopter firefighters and the Civil Guard are believed to have attended the scene.
Footage shows emergency responders in a helicopter winching casualties away from the scene.
The centre spokesperson added: “The alert received said several people had been knocked into the water by a high wave.
“The Maritime Rescue helicopter rescued one person from the water and recovered one deceased person.
“The beach rescue service, aboard jet skis, rescued the woman in cardiac arrest and evacuated her to the pier.”
It is understood paramedics performed resuscitation manoeuvres until the victim was stabilised and taken to hospital by air ambulance.
Health respondents were seen attending to two other people who got out of the water on their own.
The Civil Guard is conducting an ongoing investigation.
The natural pool has a concrete wall protects bathers but an online travel site has released warnings advising tourists to stay out of the area where yesterday’s drama occurred.
Survivors revealed yesterday evening how the situation had suddenly worsened in seconds.
One Spanish woman told a Canary Islands TV broadcaster: “We began to see bigger and bigger waves and didn’t have time to see more because we realised we had to get out of there very quickly to survive.
“We lost our rucksack with our mobiles and wallets and purses inside.”
Another told RTVE Canarias: “We were at the edge of the pool and leaning against it when a huge wave came in.
“There was a couple, a blonde woman and an older man, who we saw were going to be swept out of the pool.
“Another huge wave came crashing in and everyone just ran as fast as they could to get away.”
The woman claimed two more devastating waves followed and despite being quite a way from the pool, they were forced to hold onto rocks to make sure they weren’t swept away.
In January, a British holidaymaker died at the landmark natural rock pool after being swept into the sea.
The 60-year-old was one of three people who got into difficulties and was found face-down in the sea and choppered to a nearby football ground where efforts to revive him proved unsuccessful.
Yesterday’s terrifying ordeal happened nearly a month after three people died and 15 were injured when they were pulled out to sea by high waves on the same island.
Most of the victims were tourists, with the worst incident in the northern port city of Puerto de la Cruz resulting in a 79-year-old Dutch holidaymaker dying.
Nine others also needed hospital treatment after being knocked off a sea wall.
Elsewhere on November 27 a search was launched for a British pensioner who plunged from a TUI-operated cruise ship north of the Canary Islands.
The 76-year-old went overboard from the adults-only Marella Explorer 2 just before 10am when it was 16.5 nautical miles northwest of Punta de Teno in Tenerife.
The sea and air operation to rescue the man was wound down after an intensive two days of searching.