Freakishly Huge Wave Slams Seawall in Canary Islands (Video)

The video comes from Ramon Fernandez Vazquez, showing the Los Gigantes marina on the island of Tenerife. Upon zooming out from the eruption of ocean water, it looks like there were a handful of bodyboarders down the way from the breakwater. When that set rolled through, they quickly ditched their sponges and dove deep. Reposting the video, an association dedicated to the prevention of drowning incidents in the region, captioned:

“Beware of reckless behavior. Prevention is key!”

It comes after a few serious incidents in the region, recently, and one specifically just around the corner from where this wave was filmed. Back in December, a handful of swimmers bypassed high surf warning signs at the Los Gigantes natural pool – a popular tourist destination – when a rogue wave washed across the rock barrier, and swept multiple people out to sea.

During that incident, sadly, four people lost their lives.

Mayor Navarro told a local TV station, per Metro: “All those hurt or killed were tourists. There’s a group that was younger, Slovakians and Italians, and there was another group all tourists, who had crossed the tape that had been put by local police or Civil Guard who have been working all week in this area and at other points along the coast.

“It’s impossible at times to make people understand the dangers of the ocean. The tape has to be replaced several times a day in some cases because it gets broken and people even insult police because they don’t want to leave.”

Be careful out there. Listen to the local officials, lifeguards, etc.