Calvia to tighten beach safety

Calvia Council, in co-operation with the Balearic government is to launch a campaign to improve beach safety. The Balearic Interior Ministry is to pump two million pesetas in to the safety drive and yesterday the Minister for the Interior, Josep María Costa, stressed the importance of providing bathers and sunbathers with as much information as possible. Costa said “90 per cent of the people who drown on the Balearics' beaches are foreigners which suggests that there is a lack of information being provided.” The Mayor of Calvia, Margarita Nájera, said that Calvia has been working very hard for years now to provide a maximum level of safety on the municipality's beaches. Last year eight people drowned in Calvia, Najera said that seven were caused by heart attacks and that all the victims were aged over 65. Every summer season, Calvia council, which manages one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe, spends over 70 million pesetas on beach safety. The new campaign will involve important information being provided at Calvia's beaches in a multitude of languages so that holidaymakers are aware of the dangers, what to do and who to inform in the case of an emergency. Najera said that over the past few years, over 3'000 incidents have been dealt with by Calvia's beach safety services and because of the hard work, security levies are high.