Shocking moment pipe explodes near Brit tourists' balconies sending torrent of water through Costa Del Sol resort and turning sea brown
This is the shocking moment a section of the Costa Del Sol sea turned brown after a pipe exploded just meters from British tourists' balconies.
Footage shows water gushing from a cracked underground pipe in Benalmádena before streaming through a popular resort toward the coastline.
Just seconds later, a large brown blotch begins to spread across the surf as horrified holidaymakers watch on.
A Spanish-speaking tourist filmed from a beachfront balcony near the Globales Los Patos Park Hotel as the drama unfolded.
She could be overheard asking a companion: 'What's that? Are they cleaning something?' before pointing out bubbles coming from the centre of the stain.
Stunned lifeguards were seen frantically ushering people away from the murky water as groups of curious beachgoers tried to get a closer look.
Town Hall authorities raised a yellow flag warning just after midday on Monday, shortly after the ocean near the Hotel Spa Benalmadena Palace became discolored.
Officials blamed the incident on a ruptured high-pressure water pipe, claiming it spilled 'clean, drinkable water' that dragged mud and sediment into the sea.
They insisted there was 'no contamination' or danger to public health.
Footage shows water streaming from a cracked underground pipe in Benalmádena before gushing through a popular resort and making its way down towards the coastline
Benalmadena Town Hall said in a statement: 'Public water firm Acosol reported an incident that occurred around midday yesterday in its upstream drinking water supply network in the municipality.
'After detecting the incident, the water leak was immediately stopped before the impact of the incident was studied and repair work began.'
The council described the burst pipe as 'quite old and deteriorated', adding: 'It is drinking water and the image it produced is the result of the natural dragging of towards the sea, without any type of contamination.'
A green flag was put up later in the day after conditions returned to normal - though not before
Locals were left furious by the mishap and took to social media to share their fraustration.
One resident questioned: 'How many litres of water are going to be lost before the problem is fixed?'
Another fumed: 'And the council turns off the beach showers to raise awareness among people.'
A third added: 'Wastewater does not have or should not have that pressure, but I disagree that it is not partly faecal water that you see in the sea.
'That water carries excrement from the road and especially the waste dog walkers leave on the beach.'
The disturbing incident comes just weeks after a toxic chlorine cloud forced around 160,000 people into lockdown across parts of Spain popular with tourists.
Authorities warned that a blaze at an industrial warehouse selling pool cleaning products had released the gas over the Catalonia region.
The fire started at around 2:20am on May 10 in Vilanova i la Geltru, a coastal town 30 miles south of Barcelona, and caused a huge plume of chlorine smoke over the area.
Locals and tourists received an urgent alert on their phones telling them to stay indoors and not their their homes as firefighters battled the flames.
Around 160,000 people in five towns were affected by the lockdown on Saturday morning.
'If you are in the zone that is affected, do not leave your home or your place of work,' the Civil Protection service posted on social media site X.
No one was injured in the fire, Catalan emergency services said.
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