News
Plaza planters
Landowner trial follows
January tragedy
The owner of the land in Totalán
where a two-year-old Málaga boy died
in January after falling 70 metres down
a borehole is to face trial. He has been
charged with homicide by gross
negligence, with bail set at €885,310, or
the impounding of his property to this
amount.
Two dozen new, strong steel planters
have replaced the old wooden boxes
which have deteriorated on the Plaza de
España, behind Nerja’s Town Hall. New
palm trees are also planned for the site.
The cost of €69,000 is being met by the
regional government.
Fewer mangos
The mango harvest began in the
Axarquía last month, although the total
collected is expected be down on last
year’s record 35,000 tonnes. The area
east of Málaga is Spain’s largest producer
of the sub-tropical fruit, but this year’s
crop has suffered from the weather. The
Spanish Association of Tropical Fruits
estimates the harvest will be as much as
30% down on 2018.
Natural death
A 19-year-old who collapsed and died in
a nightclub in Torre del Mar at the end
of August died from natural causes. A
post-mortem by the Institute of Forensic
Medicine has ruled out the use of drugs.
The teenager was from Barakaldo in the
Basque Country and was on holiday in
the town with his family.
Shuttle bus
A free shuttle bus between Vélez-Málaga
and Torre del Mar is under
consideration by councillors. The
suggestion came out of a meeting last
month between mayor Antonio Moreno
Ferrer and business leaders. The mayor
also promised to increase the number of
blue zone parking spaces in the two town
centres.
Return home
The image of Our Lady of Sorrows
(Nuestra Señora de las Angustias ) is
expected to return to her town centre
chapel in Nerja this month. The Ermita
is in the final stages of a restoration
project which has seen work on various
elements including the murals and the
altarpieces. The image is expected to
return on October 10, the day of a
procession which honours Nerja’s
patrons.
A Málaga court said last month that
David Serrano was aware that the
borehole, which had been drilled to
search for water, was “exposed without
being protected by adequate security
measures.” The amount set for bail has
been calculated by the court from the
total cost of the long and complex
rescue operation which was opened in
an effort to save the child.
In a provisional statement, the
Prosecutor said Serrano had not warned
of the borehole’s presence and was the
“only one who knew of its existence,”
adding that the entrance was “barely
visible.” The statement accused Serrano
of “extremely serious negligence,”
which the defendant denies.
The accident happened on January 14
when two-year-old Julen Roselló was
visiting the area with his family who
live in the El Palo district of Málaga.
His father said he saw the boy fall
into the hole and rushed to grab him
but his fingers only brushed against
the child as he disappeared
downwards.
The entrance to the borehole was just
25 centimetres in diameter, ruling out
any chance of an adult being lowered
into the void, so a massive rescue
operation was started. Spain then held
its breath for days as two wider shafts
were drilled downwards, parallel to the
borehole, in a technically complex
operation hindered by the instability of
the ground.
Sadly, the efforts ended with the
discovery of Julen’s body on January
26, almost two weeks after he
disappeared. Serrano, a friend of the
bereaved family, said at the time, “I
never thought a child could fit into it.
I’ll never forgive myself.”
Nerja health centre boost
Another much-delayed Nerja project
may be about to be given a boost. The
regional government is to carry out a
study of the plot earmarked for the
town’s new health centre with
particular reference to its liability to
flood.
The undertaking came last month
from the Junta’s Director General of
Planning and Water Resources,
Fernando Delgado, during a meeting
with Nerja’s mayor, José Alberto
Armijo, and the town’s Chief
Infrastructure Engineer Antonio
Dorado. Under discussion was the
flooding experienced a few years ago at
the plot which has been ceded to the
town by the Junta de Andalucía for the
building of a new health centre.
This concern has blocked progress on
the project, but Sr Delagado assured
the meeting that a study would begin
as soon as possible in order to clarify,
definitively and accurately, the
potential the plot has for becoming
flooded. Mayor Armijo is reported to
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have expressed his satisfaction at the
move to “clear this mystery,” and to
ensure that the project can go ahead
and be open to the tendering process
as quickly as possible.
In February 2017, the regional
government’s delegate in Málaga, José
Luis Ruiz Espejo, visited Nerja to
announce that the town’s new health
centre would be built in an area at the
eastern end of the town on open land
close to Supersol supermarket and
opposite the Nerja Club Hotel. He
indicated then that the project would
be reactivated, “as soon as possible,”
and was the, “culmination of the
negotiations and working meetings in
recent months.” However, little
progress has been evident since then,
and the latest move is being seen as a
sign of new political collaboration
between Nerja’s Town Council and the
regional authority. In recent months,
the administration of both entities has
been snatched from the socialists in
elections, and both are now controlled
by the Partido Popular.