A ROMANIAN tourist was seriously injured after a ninth-floor balcony collapsed into a hotel pool in southern Spain, emergency services have said.
The 43-year-old was lounging in the water at the Izan Cavanna Hotel in La Manga del Mar Menor, near Murcia, when debris from the collapse struck him and knocked him unconscious on Friday, according to reports.
Emergency responders rushed to the hotel after receiving several calls at around 7.30pm, treating the man at the scene before transferring him to Murcia’s Virgen de la Arrixaca hospital.
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Murcia’s emergency services confirmed to The Olive Press that the victim’s injuries were ‘serious’, although they added that further tests were needed to determine their full extent.
Witnesses told local newspaper La Verdad that the tourist was not trapped beneath the debris, but that he was struck on the shoulder.
Firefighters cordoned off the area while authorities launched an investigation into the collapse.
Hotel representatives told the Olive Press that specialists in building defects, alongside expert surveyors from Cartagena City Council’s Urban Planning Department, have been brought in to establish what caused the incident.
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The Izan Cavanna Hotel was at the centre of a major health scare last August when nearly 200 guests reportedly fell ill in a Salmonella outbreak.
Around 20 people, including a 15-month-old baby, were taken to hospital after their symptoms worsened.
A field hospital was set up at the Costa Calida hotel after guests began suffering from nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and, in some cases, fever.
Hotel bosses later said in a statement they were collaborating with health officials after the incident affected a ‘limited’ number of guests.
Click here to read more Murcia News from The Olive Press.
