News
Scooter injury
A 93-year-old Málaga woman fractured a
shoulder last month after tripping over an
electric scooter which had been left lying
in a pedestrianised zone of the city. She
was treated in hospital and allowed home.
The abuse of rental scooters being left
wherever the user wishes has been
repeatedly denounced by residents in the
city centre.
Dangerous insecticide
Two people were injured in Vélez-Málaga
last month after a can of insecticide
exploded in their home. The emergency
services said the can had been next to a
fireplace when the incident, which also
damaged the property, occurred on
Urbanización Colina de Chilches. The
victims were treated at the Axarquía
Hospital in Vélez-Málaga.
Avocado thieves
Three men have been detained in
Almayate charged with stealing avocados
from a local farm. Police, who were alerted
by a neighbour, surprised the alleged
thieves who abandoned their vehicle
which was found to be filled with 200 kilos
of the fruit. The two 21-year-olds and a
36-year-old, all Spanish nationals, also face
a charge of cutting through a fence to
access the plants.
Muslim discovery
A 12th century wall has been discovered
during the demolition of the Astoria and
Victoria cinemas in Málaga. Experts are
now assessing the archaeological value of
the find which may be incorporated in the
design of the new building planned for the
site. The wall is believed to have been part
of the Muslim district known as
Fontanalla, one of two recorded in
accounts of the time.
Drugs tip-off
An anonymous tip-off last month led
Málaga police to a house in the El Palo
district where officers seized 96 marijuana
plants. Two Spanish men with previous
convictions were detained for public
health offences and stealing electricity.
Officers identified the suspect property by
the incessant noise of motors and
extractor fans, as well as a strong odour of
the plants.
Market upgrades
Nerja is one of ten municipalities which
will share over €270,000 from the
regional government to make
improvements to their weekly street
markets. The biggest single payment,
€43,500, has been awarded to Vélez-
Málaga. The councils must carry out the
upgrades within six months before
claiming back the expenditure.
Award for Totalán
tragedy miners
The Defence Ministry has made a
special award to the team of miners
from Asturias who led efforts to rescue
a toddler trapped in a well at Totalán
earlier this year. It said the Asturian
Mining Rescue Brigade was being
acknowledged for its “meritorious
work” during rescues in risky
conditions over more than a century in
existence.
The team of nine men arrived at
Totalán, ten kilometres north of
Rincón de la Victoria, in January to
assist in a rescue operation after two-
year-old Julen Roselló from Málaga
became trapped 100 metres below
ground.
He had fallen into a narrow borehole,
just 25 centimetres in diameter, which
had been drilled in a search for water.
However, after almost a fortnight of
intense activity, during which a shaft
was bored in parallel to allow workers
to reach the boy, he was found to have
died.
The owner of the land where the
accident took place has been charged
with manslaughter by gross
negligence. He is due to appear in
court in Málaga on January 21.
The €12,000 award to the the Asturian
Mining Rescue Brigade recognizes
their work as demonstrating,
“exemplary dedication to service,
companionship, loyalty and discipline,
shared with the Spanish Armed Forces
values, which serve as models and
encouragement to the whole of
society.”
In February, the same brigade was
awarded the Medal of Andalucía,
described by regional president
Juanma Moreno, as, “institutional
recognition of the affection and
gratitude that is shown by Totalán and
Andalucía.”
Calls for a clean port
The Port Authority in Málaga is being
urged to encourage visiting vessels to
adopt clean technology. Proposals have
been made for installing a device
which measures the quality of the air
in the cruise terminal, and for
rewarding operators of low emission
vessels.
Málaga Town Hall wants the Authority
to implement zero emission
technologies on ships in general and
cruise liners in particular which
connect to the national grid when at
berth in the city. It is being suggest that
those which can show they are
reducing pollution of the atmosphere
and the sea be awarded a ten per cent
reduction on their mooring charges as
a means of encouraging shipping lines
and private owners to become more
environmentally friendly.
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Estimates have suggested that 15 of the
largest ships in the world emitted as
much air pollution as 760 million
vehicles because the vessels use fossil
fuels for propulsion. Heavy oil for
example contains high amounts of
sulphur, heavy metals and other toxic
waste. In addition to carbon dioxide,
such ships emit high levels of sulphur
oxides, nitrogen oxides and particulate
material, regarded as being highly
hazardous to human health.
The Port of Málaga is the fifth busiest
for cruise liners in Spain, and second
on the mainland, with 296 moorings in
2018 bringing 506,000 visitors to the
city. The city’s Council and the Port
Authority aim to double these numbers
in the coming years, but say tourism
and climate must “interact and work
hand in hand.”