Frances Leate
By Jon Clarke
A BBC documentary has slammed the Spanish authorities after alcohol-fuelled tourism has led to a shocking rise of deaths from the ‘balconing’ craze in Mallorca.
The programme revealed how the number of incidents – which sees youngsters jump from hotel balconies – rose by over a third to around 40 in Magaluf last year alone.
“This has gone up from 25 to 30 in previous years and I personally know of 12 people who died in the incidents” a paramedic told makers of ‘The Truth about Magaluf.’
The shocking documentary heard how alcohol-fuelled tourism appears to be the cause of a sharp rise in crime, injuries and deaths in Spain’s most infamous resort.
The show, made by presenter Stacey Dooley, claimed that there were an alarming 200 ‘unnatural’ deaths of tourists last year.
A coroner revealed that of the 60 deaths he had dealt with around 80 to 90 % of the victims were found to have an extreme amount of alcohol in their system.
“It is tragic to see so many young people dying out here on holiday,” he said.
“We have to work on people’s drinking habits and explain the consequences.”
A receptionist at a hotel – where two guests died from balcony falls last year – revealed that one of the victims – a British teenager – died within two hours of arriving at the hotel.
He blamed the problems on ‘excessive drinking’ and insisted many of the tourists were far too young to be drinking so much.
A local policeman added that things are ‘getting worse and there is an increase of alcohol-related incidents this year’.
The problem appears to stem from a system that allows youngsters to drink unlimited amounts of alcohol in clubs and bars from as little as 20 euros a head.
Some were drinking up to ten times the drink drive limit.
The mayor of the resort however, shrugged it off insisting with as many as 20,000 tourists out in the town each night in summer such problems were inevitable.
He said: “Things are out of my hands. I am not a magician. I’m just the mayor.”
It is called Natural Selection.
Don’t you just love that mayor? None of this nonsense about, “I have a plan to reduce the number of deaths this year” No, just that delicious fatalism. Viva Espana !
the truth is what the bar owner said….”who are their parents?…who raised them?”…..these idiots go here with full knowledge about the place and can’t wait to get drunk…again and again….no matter where you go in Europe..if there are english tourists….they are drunk causing problems…many think it is funny….anglo saxon “culture” I suppose….I find it funny to see groups of people who were once pirates acting like that all over again.
Lets be honest , most of the young people they are on about are at least 18 years of age. They are old enough to make decisions for themselves. Im going to magaluf at the end of august and yes I plan to get pretty drunk. But I say if you get drunk enough that you fall off a balcony you are quite simply an idiot. What do people excpect the locals to do? Stop selling them drink and have no business. British people are there business!
I think that the resorts need to put there balconies alot higher for start. Ive read a few reports one in particular where a young girl says she is 5ft 10 and when she in heels the balconly rails come to the top of her leg!!! Can think of many acciedents waiting to happen there! And another where he acutally fell out of thr balcony after try to catch a lighter but survived after landing on a sun chair. He only cracked his skull and broke a few bones. I say only as he is lucky he is not paralized or dead. A good friend of mine died on the 3rd of august 2013 in magaluf cos of the balcony. So yeah alcohol is parlty to blame but if your resort is about alcohol then u do your best as mayor to give the best saftey reassurance possibleeeeeeee. Its your job and out right human comapssion and desency (mind my spelling).
My heart goes out to all the families that have lost a loved one.
R.I.P TOM OUSBY
“THE GOOD DIE YOUNG”
suk ur dad