Growing number of deaths and serious accidents caused by people jumping from balconies towards swimming pools

This article is more than 10 years old

This article is more than 10 years old

Emergency services on Spain's Balearic islands have warned holidaymakers of the dangers of jumping off balconies and said the "balconing" craze has claimed four lives this summer and left many tourists seriously injured.

The growing number of deaths comes amid a surge of serious accidents caused by people scrambling up the sides of buildings, jumping from one balcony to another or hurling themselves down towards swimming pools.

Emergency services on the islands said they had to rush three young people to hospital in the space of 12 hours on Sunday after they had plummeted from hotel and apartment balconies.

The most seriously injured was a 20-year-old Briton, who fell from a third floor balcony in the Ibiza resort of Platja d'en Bossa.

Two 18-year-olds were also taken to hospital after separate incidents in Magaluf, in Mallorca, on the same day.

The number of balcony accidents is already triple that of previous summers, with hotel owners saying there seems to be a growing craze for balcony dares and local media pointing to a series of internet videos labelled "balconing".

"Jumping into the swimming pool or crossing from balcony to balcony are some of the causes … though we have also had people sleepwalking," a spokesman for the islands' emergency services said.

A hotel receptionist in the resort town of Alcudia, in Mallorca, said those caught attempting balcony jumps were normally drunk or had taken drugs and were trying to keep the party going once they got back to the hotel.

"This year it has become a real plague," she told El País newspaper. "If you catch them, they say that they have lost their room key, but mostly they are trying to get to a girl's room or think they can jump down into the pool."

Jumps towards swimming pools have caused horrific injuries in the past, with one jumper reportedly mistaking a pond that was only a few inches deep for a proper pool.

Hoteliers say they have tried to make it more difficult for people to jump off balconies in recent years. A campaign is under way to rid the islands of their reputation for booze and drug holidays, with hotels now throwing rowdier guests out onto the street.

Local tourism authorities said other British holidaymakers were normally the first to applaud when this happened.

"We don't want to be seen as a debauched paradise," one hotelier told El País. "If our guests don't pay attention to the signs asking them to behave correctly and responsibly, we throw them out."

A survey of 6,000 young British and German holidaymakers on the Balearic islands last year found that 35% had been drunk at least every other night, and 9% said they had been sexually harassed.

A similar survey found that a quarter of those travelling without a partner had sex on the islands, with one-third of those failing to use condoms.