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Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Daily Mirror
Tourists face 'inhuman' queues at Spanish airport amid emergency meeting
Hundreds of UK holidaymakers were left queuing for hours at Tenerife South Airport on Monday, with chaos and 'inhuman' conditions reportedly leaving kids and parents distressed Brits caught in the chaos of Tenerife South Airport have described horrifying scenes as crowds wilted in the heat. Last Monday night, coinciding with the school holidays in the UK, more than 500 people found themselves packed into a waiting area at the Canary Islands travel hub. They waited for hours to pass through the security as a bottleneck formed by two checkpoints, each staffed by two National Police officers. Top Spanish officials will now hold an urgent meeting after the tourists faced "inhuman" conditions at the start of the school holidays. Many were held on a sweltering plane for 45 minutes, only to disembark and find broken escalators and lengthy queues for passport checks. Becks Gravil was one of those swept up in the chaos. It took her family two hours to leave the airport after landing at 8.30pm. "Never in my life have I ever seen it this bad," she explained. "There was fighting, people being sick, people fainting - all crammed in like sardines. What should have been an hour from landing to Adeje turned into four hours. What a day!" Lourdes Torrecillas, who had just landed from Bristol, described the horror that unfolded in front of her after she disembarked following a long wait on the tarmac. "They kept us on the plane for 45 minutes without being able to leave, and when we arrived at the terminal, the escalators weren't working. Retirees and entire families with babies had to cope as best they could, carrying their children and belongings in the midst of a huge traffic jam," she told Diario. 'There were more than 500 people waiting standing, we couldn't move our arms or even breathe, everyone was sweating; there were elderly couples and babies under a year old; some children were crying, others were screaming, and some parents were carrying them on their shoulders so they wouldn't suffocate. "Next to me was an elderly man with an insulin pump, and further away, a frantic family; I thought something serious could happen. There weren't even bathrooms in that area." A taxi driver who picks up passengers from the airport claimed that such waits and crowds are a regular occurrence and that medical workers are often called on to care for unwell passengers who suffer fainting spells. Other Brits who had recently jetted out to Tenerife claimed they'd had similar issues on different dates. Lynda McLaughlin said: "It is nothing to do with half term. We landed on May 3 at 12.30pm and this is exactly how it was then. There was no organisation whatsoever. It is crazy." Another passenger who landed on the same day described it as "hell". Carol Perry added: "The same happened to us three weeks ago, at the same time of night. There were only two passport control officers on and one person trying to sort out queues who didn't have a clue what she was doing. It was bedlam. It wasn't school holidays then either. Tenerife's ruling council, has called an emergency meeting in response to the incident, citing the recurring chaos during peak tourism periods. Dávila deemed the situation "unacceptable", attributing it to inadequate staffing for border checks following the UK's EU exit. If Labour is able to push ahead with its plans for UK passport holders to use queues for EU citizens only, this issue could be eased in coming months. The situation at the airport was made worse on Monday when the automated check-in systems failed to recognise children's passports, forcing families with their little ones and luggage to wait for hours under the scorching heat just to begin their holidays. Get travel warnings straight to your WhatsApp! Off on holiday soon? The Mirror has launched its very own Travel WhatsApp community where you'll get all the latest travel warnings for everything from staycations to getaways in sunny Spain. We'll send you the latest breaking updates and exclusives all directly to your phone. Users must download or already have WhatsApp on their phones to join in. All you have to do to join is click on this link, select 'Join Chat' and you're in! We may also send you stories from other titles across the Reach group. We will also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose Exit group. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Expressing her frustration, the council's President disclosed that she had reached out to mainland politicians but was met with lacklustre responses, lamenting, "There's a serious lack of respect towards Tenerife. We're managing essential services locally, but without state support, we're being left to fail," she said. Tenerife Tourism Minister Lope Afonso expressed alarm at the first impression visitors receive, stating, "This is the first impression our visitors get. After hours on a plane, they're met with long waits and no explanation. It's not acceptable, and it's hurting our brand as a quality tourist destination," he explained. Additionally, Afonso issued a stark warning about the potential disaster awaiting summer tourists if improvements are not made urgently. He said: "We need immediate solutions to avoid this happening again, especially with the busy summer season ahead."
Euronews
17-02-2025
- Business
- Euronews
Brazil's Lula defends oil exploration in the Amazon as a way to finance green energy
Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has backed more oil exploration despite his country hosting crucial climate talks later this year. Lula has been pressuring the country's environmental regulators to approve exploratory drilling near the mouth of the Amazon River, despite them previously saying no. He says revenue from this new fossil fuel supply could help finance a transition to green energy. The site of this exploration is around 160km off the east coast of Brazil. It is located in a region known as the Equatorial Margin, which runs from Rio Grande do Norte to Amapá, where there are thought to be significant oil and gas fields. A license for exploratory drilling was rejected by Ibama, the country's environmental regulator, in 2023. It said this was due to a weak plan for the protection of wildlife - a spill at the site would have devastating effects on one of the most biodiverse regions of the world. State-owned oil company Petrobras has appealed the rejection and is now waiting for a decision. Oil exploration in the mouth of the Amazon Lula told Brazilian radio station Diario that he wants it to be explored, 'but before exploring, we need to research and see if there is oil and how much oil there is.' He added that it felt like Ibama was 'working against the government' despite being a government agency. 'We will follow all the necessary procedures to ensure no harm to nature, but we can't ignore the wealth beneath us and choose not to explore it - especially because this wealth will provide the funds for the much-needed and long-awaited energy transition,' Lula said. Brazil is a major oil-producing country and is increasingly exporting what it produces. Government figures show that around 90 per cent of Brazil's electricity comes from renewable sources, mostly hydropower. 'The government spreads disinformation when it says it needs more oil to finance the energy transition,' said Ilan Zugman, director for Latin America and the Caribbean. 'This narrative is simplistic and disrespectful. To put it in perspective, more than 80 per cent of the tax incentives offered by the Brazilian federal government for the energy sector are directed towards fossil fuels. 'The Brazilian federal government invests more than $15 billion (€14.3 billion) in subsidies for fossil fuels.' COP30 host city Belém, at the mouth of the Amazon River, is just a few hundred kilometres from the proposed drilling site. Critics say new oil exploration risks harming the country's reputation ahead of the UN climate summit. 'We won't accept drilling at the Amazon Basin' Lula was greeted by protesters when he arrived in Belém last Friday to announce federal investments for COP30. Environmental activists from the Amazonian Working Network (GTA), the Marajó Observatory, the Pororoka collective and Engajamundo unfurled a banner that read 'Destroying the Amazon for oil and gas is not worth the price'.' 'Oil exploration at the mouth of Amazon is a disregard for the human rights of local communities, including the right to land, water and health,' said the executive director of Marajó Observatory, Valma Teles. 'For the government to rush through a project full of socio-environmental risks and which has no popular legitimacy in the territories in order to avoid getting burned at COP30 is to make a fool of us, the peoples of the forests and waters, and the whole world.' Suane Barreirinhas, an activist from Vila da Barca, a suburb of Belém where riverine people live, added that COP30 should be used to magnify the voices of those who 'feel the climate crisis on their skin'. 'Let this space, our river, be the stage for our fight against this 'development' that affects us. We've already seen the Belo Monte disaster and we won't accept drilling at the Amazon Basin now.'
