A tourist has been rushed to hospital after a ninth-floor balcony collapsed and crashed into a swimming pool at a four-star hotel in La Manga, southeast Spain, knocking him unconscious with falling debris.
The incident occurred at the Izan Cavanna Hotel on Friday evening. Emergency services received multiple 999 calls just after 7.30pm reporting that a balcony structure had detached from the ninth floor and fallen into the hotel’s swimming pool, injuring one person.
A government spokesman said: “Several 999 calls just after 7.30pm yesterday reported the collapse of a balcony at the facilities of a hotel complex located in La Manga del Mar Menor in Cartagena. According to the callers, the balcony structure had detached from the ninth floor and fallen into the establishment’s swimming pool, injuring one person.” An emergency services doctor confirmed the injured man, aged around 50, was being transferred to the Virgen de la Arrixaca Clinical Hospital, with the accident and emergency unit notified ahead of his arrival. The man’s injuries and current condition remain unknown, and the hotel has yet to comment on the incident.
The Izan Cavanna Hotel was previously at the centre of a major health scare last August, when nearly 200 guests reportedly fell ill during a salmonella outbreak. Around 20 people, including a 15-month-old baby, were transferred to hospital due to the severity of their symptoms. After two days of silence, hotel management eventually issued a statement saying: “The management of Hotel Izan Cavanna would like to inform all its customers and partners that it is actively managing a health incident that has affected a limited number of guests with symptoms of gastroenteritis. The health, safety and well-being of our guests and staff are our top priority. We deeply regret the situation and the concern that this incident may have caused our guests. We would like to express our sincere solidarity with those affected and assure them that we have mobilised all our resources to manage this matter with the utmost diligence and transparency.”
The collapse adds to a string of structural incidents at Spanish hotels in recent months. In April, five people were taken to hospital after part of a ceiling collapsed at the three-star Poseidon Palace Hotel in Benidorm, when chunks of plasterboard and air conditioning ducts fell onto around 60 guests eating in the hotel’s dining room. Those requiring hospital treatment ranged in age from 33 to 80, while an eight-year-old child and a 78-year-old man received medical attention at the scene. Just days later, two people were injured when the floor gave way during dinner at the Rey Don Jaime Hotel in Santa Ponsa, Majorca.
