Annual Report Shows Slight Drop in Fatalities but Sharp Rise in Serious Injuries
A total of 69 people lost their lives to drowning in the Canary Islands from January to December 2025, three fewer (-4%) than in the same period in 2024 (72), according to data compiled by the aquatic accident prevention association Canarias, 1500 KM de Costa. The month of December saw nine fatalities, a figure that ties it with August and September (9 each) as the deadliest months for drowning in 2025. This is followed by January (8 deaths). February, March, June, and July recorded the lowest number (3 each).
Alarming Increase in Critical and Serious Incidents
December concluded with 3 bathers in critical condition, 6 with moderate injuries, 2 with minor injuries, and 1 rescued unharmed. The 2025 report is notable for a worrying 71% increase in the number of bathers suffering critical and serious injuries. The figure for critically injured victims rose to 16 (a 77% increase from the 9 recorded in 2024), while those seriously affected totalled 25 (a 66% increase from the 15 counted the previous year). Furthermore, throughout the year, 70 people suffered moderate injuries, 32 minor injuries, and 29 were rescued unscathed. In total, 241 people were involved in accidents, 55 more than in 2024 (+30%).
Ignoring Warnings Proves Fatal
Throughout the year, 32 of the 69 people who drowned (46%), as well as 94 of the 241 total affected (39%), had decided to bathe or approach the coast when pre-alerts or alerts for adverse coastal phenomena were active, as decreed by the Government of the Canary Islands. The map of aquatic accidents in the Canaries during 2025 is marked by tragedy on rocky coastal areas, largely due to recklessness such as ignoring safety signage and recommendations.
Tenerife’s Rocky Coasts Witness Multiple Tragedies
Tenerife’s coastline claimed multiple lives during episodes of heavy swell. This was particularly true during a fateful weekend in November when, within hours of each other, three people died: a 79-year-old Dutch bather in Puerto de la Cruz—in a wave surge that affected ten people—a man located at Playa El Cabezo (Granadilla de Abona), and a 43-year-old fisherman in La Guancha.
However, the most severe single incident occurred in early December at the Isla Cangrejo natural pool in Los Gigantes, Tenerife. This case gained international media coverage, where disregard for safety cordons resulted in four tourists dead, one missing, and several others injured to varying degrees. It is the worst tragedy in an aquatic environment to have occurred in the Canaries in at least the last ten years.
Child Fatalities Reach a Ten-Year High
Regarding minors, with four fatalities, the highest figure in the last ten years, the common factor in accidents involving this group—the most vulnerable in aquatic environments—is the false sense of security perceived around swimming pools, which often translates into a lack of supervision and vigilance by the adults responsible for them.
Throughout the year, 19 minors suffered an incident in various Canarian aquatic spaces: 4 fatalities (6% of total deaths); 4 critical; 4 serious; 5 moderate; 1 minor injury and 1 unharmed. Among the highest-impact events is the disappearance of Arek, the 15-year-old Polish boy swept out to sea last February at Charco del Viento in Tenerife, whose body has still not been located.
Another tragic event occurred last April at the Lago Taurito water park in Gran Canaria; little Rebeca, a two-year-old Italian girl, lost her life by drowning in a crowded pool, a victim of what the drowning prevention expert and president of our association, Sebastián Quintana, has termed the ‘invisible drowning’ syndrome. At the same facility in early December, a four-year-old Swedish girl had to be transported in critical condition after hitting her head while going down a slide.
Victim Profile and Nationalities
Some 38% of the deaths recorded in the recently ended year 2025 were adult bathers; 30% (21) were over 60 years old; 26% of victims were of unknown age (18). Men accounted for 74% of fatalities (51) and women for 25% (17).
By nationality, 17 of the identified deceased were foreigners: British (4); Romanian (3); Polish (2); Italian (2); German (1); Belgian (1); Moroccan (1); Indian (1); Dutch (1); Slovakian (1); foreigners with unspecified nationality (5); Spanish (4) and victims of unknown nationality (42).
Breakdown by Activity, Location, and Time
Bathers represent 67% of total affected individuals; 9% corresponds to water sports; 8% to unknown activity and fishermen, respectively; 4% to those classified under ‘others’ (people who accidentally fall into the water from a pier, cliff, promenade, or sportspeople such as paragliders, pilots, boat crew…). The remaining 1% were scuba divers.
Tenerife is the island with the highest number of fatalities: 24 people; followed by Gran Canaria (18); Lanzarote (13); Fuerteventura (6); La Gomera (3) and El Hierro (3); La Palma (2). La Graciosa did not record any deaths. Regarding the total number of people affected, Tenerife accounted for 42%, followed by Gran Canaria (22%), Lanzarote (15%), and Fuerteventura (12%).
Beaches continue to be the setting with the highest accident rate (50%), followed by ports/coastal areas (26%), natural pools (16%), and swimming pools (8%). Some 60% of accidents occurred in the afternoon; 28% in the morning. 10% were recorded without the time of the incident specified; only 2% of incidents took place at night.
About the Report
The association Canarias, 1500 Km de Costa, compiles this study based on data extracted from official sources related to the field of Emergencies: primarily 112 Canarias, the Guardia Civil, National Police, Maritime Rescue, Local Police, Firefighters, and Civil Protection. It is an initiative sponsored by the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, the Elder Museum of Science and Technology, with collaboration from the Ministry of Territorial Policy, Territorial Cohesion and Water of the Government of the Canary Islands, the Tourism and Ciudad de Mar departments of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria City Council, and Binter.
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