Four beaches are now closed in Gran Canaria, La Restinga, El Barranquillo, Palos, and San Borondón, are closed to the public this weekend following oil spill on Wednesday night. The spill originated from the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and reached the Telde coastline on Thursday.
The Canary Islands' Emergency and Rescue Group (GES) will continue monitoring the spill throughout Saturday and Sunday, focusing on La Restinga, the most affected area, and the authorities hope to contain the situation soon.
In the meantime, alert level 2 of the PLATECA (Territorial Emergency Plan of the Canary Islands) remains in effect whilst the situation is being handled.
Early yesterday morning, Friday, a team of 29 workers equipped with personal protective equipment (PPE), began an intensive cleanup operation to remove the fuel from the coast which has continued today.
Telde's mayor, Juan Antonio Peña, expressed his gratitude to all those involved in the operation, and said he hopes the beaches will be back open to the public soon.
