MADRID – A landslide has killed at least two people and may have buried another two on the popular holiday island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands, officials said Sunday.
A 130-foot stretch of cliff collapsed onto a small beach at Playa de los Gigantes close to the western tip of the island off the northwest coast of Africa, a regional Interior Ministry spokesman told The Associated Press.
The accident happened Sunday just before 4 p.m. local time at a spot frequented by foreign tourists from northern Europe and known for its imposing west-facing cliff.
The spokesman spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with government rules. He said good weather had attracted many people to the narrow beach dominated by a cliff just north of the resort marina of Los Gigantes.
Around 150 rescue workers were at the scene clearing rocks and boulders with picks and shovels, local newspaper La Opinion de Tenerife reported on its Web site.
The paper said the bodies of two unidentified women, a 22-year-old and a 60-year-old, were recovered in the debris.
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