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ISSUE NO. 1767
16 - 22 May 2019
Newspaper in Spain 2017 & 2018
A XARQUÍA - C OSTA T ROPICAL YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION
Nerja sewage: Town’s mayor called to court
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‘Rapist’ faces 65 years AN alleged rapist accused of attacking multiple women in Malaga City is facing 65 years in prison. Prosecutors are demanding the man face the substantial prison sentence after he allegedly attacked and robbed four women in 2014 and 2015. The spate of attacks caused police to post warnings around garages in the Teatinos area of Malaga after the man is said to have targeted women at night in parking areas. Prosecutors are also asking the man to pay €80,000 in compensation to the alleged victims after the man chased a 40-year-old woman into a garage in an underground car park and threatened her with a wrench before robbing her and later assaulting her. Another woman was allegedly threatened and robbed, before being tied up with a seat belt cut from her car and raped. She was reportedly left locked in the boot of her car until she was found. The victims are said to still be suffering from the attacks.
Shock drowning
RAW SEWAGE: Untreated sewage is pumped out onto Nerja’s coastline.
by Sally Underwood NERJA’S mayor, Rosa Arrabal, has been summoned to court over claims nine tonnes of untreated wet wipes were found on the bottom of Nerja’s seabed. A further six councillors and former politicians have also been called to give evidence in June over ‘Operation Vastum,’ the name given to the investigation into Nerja’s alleged sewage problem. In March, environmentalists expressed concern over the reported high amount of waste found on the seabed off Nerja’s coast. A study by the Guardia Civil’s environment section, Seprona, suggested there were tonnes of waste accumulating 50 metres under water. Organisation Ecologistas in Accion Andalucia sent a boat of
scientists out with police over five days to comb the seabed and say they what they found constitutes ‘a potential environmental disaster.’ The environmental group had claimed there were ‘serious irregularities’ with the urban wastewater being pumped untreated into the sea in Nerja. A representative from the group, Antonio Amarillo, told Spanish media: “[The waste] ranges from the infamous wipes to ear buds, faeces, detergents, drugs and oils. That is to say, everything that people throw down the toilet at their houses
goes to the coast. [There is] also waste from the activities carried out in industrial estates or companies locally.” Amarillo’s colleague, Rafael Yus, explained the waste can harm marine fauna in the protected ecosystem, as well as causing potential problems for humans. He said some bacteria in faeces is capable of spreading diseases including dysentery. In addition to the politicians facing questions in court, two officials from municipal water company Aguas de Narixa SA will also appear in court in June
and July, according to one publication. Mayor Arrabal’s predecessor, Alberto Armijo, as well as politicians Jose Alberto Tome, Jose Maria Rivas, Mari Nieves Atencia, and Jose Miguel Jimena, have all been summoned to testify. Operation Vastum began in 2017 following a complaint by Ecologists in Action about three municipalities with more than 15,000 inhabitants which they claim do not purify their wastewater, in contravention of European directives.
AN 83-year-old tourist has drowned in the sea at Torrox Costa. The pensioner died at around 6pm on Sunday after attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful. A group of bathers called emergency services after finding the man’s body floating near the shore at Laguna Beach. Local Police officers arrived quickly, and began CPR and first aid. Later, health workers and members of the Guardia Civil joined in the efforts, trying for more than half an hour to resuscitate the man. The German tourist, who had been staying at a hotel near the beach, had been on holiday with his wife. According to Spanish media, she lost sight of her husband for a few minutes, and when she managed to find him he had been taken around 300 metres away by the current.