Laurence Dollimore
A BRITISH boy has died after waiting almost an hour for an ambulance to take him to hospital in Alicante.
Witnesses say the nine-year-old collapsed after running into a friend while playing football on La Zenia beach on Tuesday.
His grandmother and friends called 112 while performing resuscitation methods, but a basic life support crew didn’t arrive until 25 minutes later.
The much-needed Emergency Medical Attention Service (SAMU) ambulance did not arrive until 40 minutes after the call.
Health workers said the three SAMUs operating on the Orihuela Coast were busy providing non-priority services at the time and none were at their base.
The three in operation – one in Guardamar del Segura (25 minutes from the scene), another in Torrevieja (15 minutes away) and one located only five minutes away in Cabo Roig – were all making transfers at the time.
It was not until 55 minutes after the accident that the boy, who by this time had an extremely faint pulse, was taken to Quiron Hospital in Torrevieja.
He fell into a coma due to lack of oxygen to the brain.
A medical helicopter transferred him to Alicante General Hospital but he died at 5pm on Wednesday, 24 hours after the accident.
Witnesses are now blasting the late arrival of the emergency services, who said they had to travel almost 40 km from Orihuela to La Zenia.
The boy’s family are also angry that when the SAMU team arrived they insisted that the boy’s injuries had been caused by a blow from a ball rather than the collision others witnessed.
Orihuela town hall lamented the loss of the child and offered condolences to his family.
Family and friends will be taking flowers to the beach where the accident occurred.
