A two-month-old baby girl passed away on Thursday as a result of a rockfall when he was with his father on a beach in Formentera, in es Copinar, at the end of Migjorn. The accident occurred at around 12.20 p.m and an ambulance has taken the baby to the island’s hospital. The 33-year-old father was injured with polytrauma of less serious diagnosis and was treated at the same hospital. The mother was not at the scene of the accident at the time, as she was a few meters away playing on the beach with another of her children.
The Guardia Civil beacon the section of the collapsed ledge / C.C.
Apparently, the family, a Spanish family from the Andalusian area, had chosen to enjoy a day at the beach in an area in the shade of a ledge formed by clayey material, very common at this point of the island’s coastline. At one point, part of the ledge broke off and several large compact blocks have fallen, located at a height of about two meters.
The insular director of Litoral went to the area. / C.C.
According to eyewitnesses, the father got up to put the pacifier in the baby’s mouththe baby was resting in a rocking chair, and at that moment a large rock collapsed on her back.
Firefighters, Guardia Civil and Local Police at the site of the landslide / Carmelo Convalia
Swimmers and lifeguards
Right away several bathers and the lifeguards intervened of the beach to her aid. As several tourists were health workers, they tried to resuscitate the baby right there until the arrival of the SAMU 061 ambulances.
In the foreground rocks detached last winter / C.C.
During the transfer to the Hospital de Formentera, the medical personnel continued to try to resuscitate the girl in the meantime, the helicopter was activated to transfer her to the pediatric ICU of Son Espases, in Mallorca, but she died before, so the helicopter did not take off, according to the Health Area of Ibiza and Formentera.
At first, from the Consell de la isla it has been explained that the baby was being transferred to Ibiza.
The Guardia Civil and firefighters have arrived in the area affected by the landslide and have cordoned off a strip of about 50 meters in length. Firefighters, local police officers, Guardia Civil, medical personnel in two ambulances (a mobile ICU and a TEM) and members of the lifeguard service have also been deployed to the scene.
The bathers, witnesses of the tragic accident, have been surprised and shocked by the unexpectedness of the event but especially for its dramatic result.
Previous landslides
The insular director of Litoral of the Consell de Formentera, Asier Fernándezalso went to es Copinar, where he commented that not many days ago he contacted the Balearic Coast Headquarters to inform that it would be necessary to to act in that area and set back a few meters the posts connected by ropes that border that ledge, as it had been detected that their condition was quite fragile.
Even, several workers of a nearby restaurant have explained to Diario de Ibiza that this winter, due to the effects of several storms, there have already been several landslides on that same ledge of es Copinar. Even now you can see, by the difference in tone, which rocks have fallen now and which ones a few months ago.
The fire chief, Álex Valeirasexplained that they were provisionally securing the area of the accident: “We will probably be there all day to make a emergency beaconing and later, the services of the Consell will surely secure it” in a definitive way. He added that they had no previous information that there was a risk of landslide in that place.
Direct witness
One of the first people to intervene was a swimmer who was on the beach with his partner, a few meters away from the place where the father and the baby were. It so happens that this person, Albert, is mosso d’Esquadra.
He said that when they arrived at the beach they started to plant the umbrella: “By chance, I looked towards the rock ledge when the father was bending down, but I didn’t see the baby. At that moment the rock fell on him, on his back.”
So, Albert, together with other swimmers, came to the aid of the two injured peoplequickly, three or four people and I ran out while someone shouted that there was a baby, but I could only see legs. They immediately alerted the lifeguard: “So, we tried to provide a little security and, among all those who came to the scene, including doctors and a physiotherapist, we stayed with the father to give him some support”.
These people, who, according to Albert’s testimony, were health workers, “began by giving the baby a first examination in which it seemed that she was quite stable, but after a few minutes she collapsed and then they had to resuscitate her a couple of times”.
According to this witness, the baby “was under the rock” and “between two people managed to get her out.” “At that moment the Guardia Civil, the Local Police, the firefighters and the two ambulances arrived and took the injured” to the hospital. At that time, everyone was unaware that the baby had died.
Condolences from the Balearic Government
The president of the Government, Marga Prohens, has moved, upon hearing the news, her condolences to the family of the two-month-old baby. In a message on the social network X, the leader of the Balearic Executive has expressed her condolences and has given encouragement to the family. “As a mother, it is difficult not to think of the suffering of the family at this time,” she said.
Late today the president of the Consell de Formentera, Llorenç Córdoba, and the insular director of Litoral, Asier Fernández, were meeting with the parents, to whom they have transferred their condolences.