Three people were rescued in the sea off the Canary Island of La Palma on Sunday afternoon in a new drama, a day after three died and 15 were injured in Tenerife. Emergency responders said the trio were holding onto a buoy when their lives were saved.

The near-tragedy occurred just under 24 hours after several holidaymakers were swept into the sea by a huge wave in the northern Tenerife port city of Puerto de la Cruz. The La Palma incident occurred just after midday on Sunday (November 9) at a beach called Bajamar Beach in the municipality of Brena Alta on the eastern side of the volcanic island, which lies to the northwest of Tenerife. The victims included two women who were both taken to hospital with hypothermia and a man who suffered blow injuries.

A spokesman for a regional government-run emergency response coordination centre said: “Coastguards and firefighters have rescued three rescue three people in distress at sea in La Palma.

“The alert was sounded at 12.11pm yesterday (SUN) at Bajamar Beach in the municipality of Brena Alta.

“An 86-year-old woman suffering hypothermia and a shoulder injury was taken by ambulance to La Palma General Hospital.

“A 61-year-old woman, also with hypothermia, was taken to the same hospital.”

Confirming police and Civil Protection workers were also among those mobilised, the spokesman said: “The alert we received said three people were in difficulties in the sea, clinging onto a buoy, and needed help. Coastguards rescued two of them, the two women, and firefighters a third, a man who was unharmed”.

It was not immediately clear what the trio’s nationalities were, or how they got into difficulties and why they were in the sea when a weather alert was in place for the Canary Islands.

The alert was put in place on Friday, with warnings that waves up to 15 feet high would batter the coastline.

On Saturday (November 8), a 79-year-old Dutch tourist, who had just reached the island on a cruise liner like most of the group with her, died in an incident at 3pm.

In a separate scare, six French holidaymakers were injured after suffering the same fate in Roque de las Bodegas on Tenerife’s north-east tip when they reportedly ignored warnings not to get too close to the water with a weather alert in place because of the sea conditions and large waves.

As well as the Dutch woman, a 43-year-old man lost his life on Saturday at a natural complex of pools in Tenerife called Charco del Viento a short drive west of Puerto de la Cruz. The tragedy occurred around 4.45pm.