An accident in Tijarafe fiesta: UPDATED

The devil's fiesta at Tijarafe
The devil dancing at Tijarafe fiesta

There was an accident in Tijarafe during the devil’s dance on Saturday night. There was a bigger crowd than usual, since it was a weekend. The devil tripped and fell over. That meant that the fireworks would be squirting horizontally instead of straight up. The emergency services managed to get the helmet-with-fireworks off the devil which sounds very brave. Indeed, the head of the unit had to go to hospital with smoke inhalation from the fireworks and and powder from a fire extinguisher – he’s been sent home to rest. Another fireman got some sort of blow to the arm from a firework, and he’s still under observation. The understudy apparently tried to put on the costume to continue the dance but failed. At that point, the other town hall employees sensibly decided that they had to get the devil out of there.

The emergency services treated 20 people with burns, 3 cases of smoke inhalation, 6 falls, an anxiety attack, four people who needed their eyes cleaning, and three cases of alcohol poisoning. I doubt that the accident had anything to do with the alcohol poisoning, and may or may not have had anything to do with the falls.

I’m glad I missed it this year, but I’d be very interested to hear from anyone who was there.

UPDATE!
There’s a video. The dance stops at 6 minutes in, and the devil’s removed,. After that the TV presenter talks about the people who had to go to hospital (who have since been released.

Posted by sheila

Sheila came to La Palma with a six month contract and has stayed 24 years so far. She used to work as a software engineer at the observatory, but now she's a writer and Starlight guide.

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