News
Eggs destroyed
More egg products contaminated with the
insecticide fipronil, which is not authorised
for use on food-producing animals, have
been found in Spain. Around 50 kilos of
powdered egg was ordered to be destroyed
last month after arriving in Cataluña from
The Netherlands. Health authorities said
the batch arrived the previous day and
none had been used in the preparation of
other foods.
Toddler drowns
A three-year-old boy drowned in a
private swimming pool in the Cádiz town
of Puerto de Santa María last month.
National Police, called to a country
property to find a missing child, searched
the area and finally found the body which
was hidden by the pool’s murky water.
Reanimation procedures were unable to
revive the child.
Iberia shrinks
Iberia is reported to be about to invite
960 of its staff to apply for voluntary
redundancy. The airline says the move is
for reasons of, “technical, organizational
and productivity.” In July 2014, Iberia
accepted 5,000 applications for
redundancy, leaving it with a complement
of 16,500 staff.
Anniversary marked
The ninth anniversary of an accident
which killed 154 and injured 18 has been
marked in Madrid and Las Palmas de
Gran Canaria. Spanair flight JK5022 to
Gran Canaria crashed on take-off from
Madrid Barajas on August 20, 2008. The
accident has been attributed to the failure
of a warning system to alert the captain
that the flaps and slats were incorrectly
deployed for take-off.
Transplant records
A 6% increase in the number of organ
donations in Andalucía in the first half of
the year has produced a rise of 17% in
transplant operations. The total of 563
transplants is “historic” according to
health councillor Marina Álvarez. She
added that the rate of 48.7 donors per
million of population is the highest ever,
exceeding the national figure and twice
the EU rate.
Free travel
Spanish coach operator Alsa has given
free travel for life to a woman who gave
birth on one of its vehicles in Morocco.
She began experiencing labour pains
when the coach was 35 kilometres from
Marrakesh and two other passengers
helped deliver a healthy baby girl before
the emergency services arrived. The
lifetime pass also extends to the woman’s
new daughter.
Naturist beach achieves
environmental certificate
Granada’s Cantarriján beach, 15
kilometres east of Nerja, has become
the first naturist beach in Spain to be
awarded the international ISO 14001
environmental management certificate.
This guarantees that all its services
including information, cleaning and
sports activities now meet
environmental criteria, and makes it
one of the top ten beaches in
Andalucía.
The beach lies within the municipality
of Almuñécar which has been working
in recent months with technical
specialists to prepare documentation,
signage, environmental emergency
plans, risk identification and
environmental impacts. The town hall
has also conducted an internal audit
covering environmental and legal
compliance in those establishments in
the area.
Playa Cantarriján
There is now a users’ guide to good
environmental practices which will
help preserve the natural environment
of the area, in addition to which new
waste disposal bins have been installed
with a collection point located in the
parking area where private vehicles
must be left. A shuttle bus service is
provided down to the beach to ensure
preservation of the area.
Brits warned on holiday
health cover
British tourists on the coast have been
warned that their holiday health
insurance may not cover treatment in a
private clinic. The Málaga branch of the
Spanish Alliance of Private Health Care
says the circumstance “increasingly
occurs” when patients do not
understand that they are covered only
for treatment under Spain’s national
health service.
It has denounced the action by some
British insurers who charge only for
public health care cover when UK
tourists are already entitled to this, free
of charge, on production of the EU
health card. It believes that users are
experiencing “an obvious abuse
situation” since the policy conditions on
coverage are often not easy to
understand, resulting in many travelling
in the belief that the insurance they
purchased entitles them to private
health care in Spain.
The Alliance says the issue is
“particularly worrying at this time”
because of the significant number of
Britons who spend the summer in Spain
which increases pressure on A&E
12
departments in tourist areas. It has
asked the British Embassy in Spain and
British tour operators to, “tackle this
fraud.”
The Alliance also alleges that some
insurers make “false and very damaging
claims against the private sector.” It
claims clients have been told that staff
are not trained and would not be able to
provide the treatment required, in an
effort to cause “confusion and alarm.”
Council sued
The family of a 36-year-old man who
died after being gored during a bull run
in Castellón last summer are suing the
local council for €400,000. They claim
security measures at the event were
deficient and directly caused his death.
Vilavella Town Council says safety
barriers were in place and fully checked,
and that all security requirements
included in its bye-laws were observed.