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A sudden wave injured several swimmers and sunbathers on a busy beach in Mazagón, Huelva, last week after what’s been described as a “mini-tsunami” crashed into the coastline without warning.

 

The surge came in from the side, with dark water pushing over the sand, knocking over beach umbrellas and sending shocked beachgoers scrambling for safety. At least six people were injured in the chaos, with one woman hospitalised.

 

Rocío, 28, was coming out of the water with a paddle board when the wave hit. “It knocked me to the ground,” she told Spanish media. “I couldn’t see anything and got trapped under the board. I only found out what had happened and that a ship was to blame when I got to hospital.”

 

She later revealed she had broken her foot and was waiting for surgery, with a long recovery period ahead. “It’s the last thing I wanted at the start of the summer,” she said.

 

Other witnesses described seeing people thrown off their feet and smashed into rocks at the side of the beach. “It passed very close to the shore and caused a strong wave that swept several people away,” one person wrote on social media. “People were literally thrown to the ground.”

 

The incident has been blamed on the manoeuvres of a large 60,000-tonne cargo ship exiting the nearby port. Authorities believe the vessel’s movements created a displacement of water that resulted in the wave, which hit the beach around mid-afternoon. An investigation is now underway to determine whether the ship had breached any safety regulations, including speed limits and distance from the coast.

 

In response, the local harbour master's office has now imposed a reduced speed limit of 11.5 knots for cargo ships in the area, hoping to avoid a similar event happening again.

 

 

Image:  Anastasios Antoniadis/Unsplash