One Dead and 27 Injured as British Tourist Bus Plunges into Ravine on La Gomera

One British tourist died and 27 others were injured on Friday after a bus carrying a group of British visitors plunged down an embankment on the Spanish Canary Island of La Gomera, emergency services confirmed. The accident occurred at approximately 1:15 p.m. local time on the GM-2 road at the location known as El Revolcadero, near the island's capital, San Sebastián de La Gomera. The vehicle, operated by the company Gomera Tours, was carrying 27 British nationals — 24 adults and three minors — along with one Spanish driver. All 28 occupants sustained injuries when the bus left the road on a curve and fell approximately 10 meters into a ravine. The group had been staying at a holiday resort in Playa Santiago and was traveling to San Sebastián de La Gomera to board a ferry to Tenerife.

Brake failure emerges as leading cause of crash Investigators are treating a failure in the braking system as the primary hypothesis for the accident, according to Juan Luis Navarro, the island director of the General State Administration. Navarro told journalists that the driver detected the brake failure and "tried to fight" to control the vehicle before it ultimately went off the road and down the slope. „Fortunately it stopped before being thrown out because otherwise it could have been much more serious” — Juan Luis Navarro via Europa Press The Guardia Civil is conducting an ongoing investigation, collecting witness testimonies from passengers whose health permits and analyzing skid marks on the roadway. Authorities have not yet formally established the cause of the accident, and the investigation remains open.

Two airlifted to Tenerife hospital, rescue operation involved dozens Of the 27 injured, four were described as being in serious condition. Two of the most critically injured — aged 73 and 42, both suffering multiple traumas — were airlifted by helicopter to the Hospital de La Candelaria in Tenerife, according to Europa Press. The remaining 25 injured were transported to the Virgen de Guadalupe hospital on La Gomera, two of them also in serious condition. The rescue operation involved two medicalized helicopters, one medicalized ambulance, two basic life support ambulances, members of the Emergency and Rescue Group of the Government of the Canary Islands, a Guardia Civil rescue helicopter, the Spanish Red Cross, Civil Protection, Local Police, and firefighters from Valle Gran Rey. Passengers were trapped in the wreckage, and their evacuation was complicated by the terrain, requiring firefighters to simultaneously extract victims and secure the bus against sliding further down the slope. Authorities restored circulation on the GM-2 road after the rescue operation concluded, though they asked motorists to maintain maximum caution as maintenance and safety work continued in the affected area.

10 (meters) — depth of ravine bus fell into

Canary Islands president and Spanish minister both express support for victims Fernando Clavijo, President of the Government of the Canary Islands, said on the social network X that he was monitoring the accident and the work of emergency teams on site, and expressed support for victims and their families. Ángel Víctor Torres, Spain's Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, described the news as "tragic" and said he was closely following the actions of emergency services and medical personnel. „We are closely following the actions in these first moments of the emergency services and health personnel. My heart is heavy. May there be no more victims” — Ángel Víctor Torres via SAPO The Government of the Canary Islands declared a state of alert at 2:00 p.m. local time due to the accident, a measure required to restrict traffic in the area. An unnamed insular councilor for Territorial Policies, Environment and Primary Sector was quoted by El País as saying it was "a miracle that there were not more fatalities."

The GM-2 road on La Gomera has a history of serious accidents. According to SAPO, approximately one year before Friday's crash, another bus went off the road and overturned on the same stretch, killing a 73-year-old woman and seriously injuring ten other people. La Gomera is part of Spain's Canary Islands archipelago, a group of islands situated off the northwest coast of Africa that are popular with tourists from northern Europe due to their year-round warm climate. The Canary Islands have approximately 2.2 million inhabitants and were visited by about 15.7 million tourists in the previous year, according to AFP.