Los Charcos: Recreation area turned into an "amusement park" for injuries
In the Los Charcos recreation area, people are getting injured again due to the neglected condition ignored by the city authorities, causing outrage among visitors.
The Los Charcos recreation area in Valleseco is in trouble again! People are getting injured because it's dangerous. There are many people who want to swim there this summer, but the place is hazardous.
Last Friday, a boy cut his leg while climbing over the fence to get to the sea. He was immediately taken to the hospital, where he received stitches.
People complain that it's all due to the "poor condition" of the recreation area. They say everything is falling apart: the railings are rusty and wobbly, the stairs are broken, and there's mold on the ramps for the disabled. These aren't just minor issues, but real dangers!
"There should be safe platforms for jumping into the water and relaxing with the family, but in reality, it's not like that at all," says one of the visitors.
Red Cross rescuers joke that this place is an "amusement park" because someone is constantly getting injured there. They even closed some approaches to the sea and informed the city authorities about it. They say that on average, three people a day get injured, especially on the platforms in the sea, because they are shaken by the waves when ships enter the dock. There are also many injuries on the ramp for the disabled due to mold.
The Los Charcos area was opened in March 2024. Then, the port administration handed it over to the city of Santa Cruz, and now the city has to take care of it. The city hall says that they are already conducting inspections to fix all the problems and make the place safe.
The father of one of the boys who was injured last weekend wrote on social media that "the city is doing nothing to put things in order there." In addition, it is also dangerous there due to fights between teenagers from different districts.
"My son was there with friends, and one of them injured his leg. He had to get three stitches. It's good that everything turned out okay, but we were very scared. Now he has to rest for ten days and will miss the start of the sports season. Instead of fun, there is disappointment and restrictions. And in the evening, we saw another boy, about 16 years old, with the same wound on his leg," said the father.
He believes that what is happening in Los Charcos is a "real shame." He says that rescuers and visitors have been warning about the danger for a long time, but no one is doing anything. The fence and stairs to the sea are in particularly terrible condition. "We are not asking for a favor, but demanding respect and safety! We deserve normal places to relax, as we were promised a year ago. Is it really so difficult to fix everything so that people don't get injured?"
It should be reminded that Los Charcos was already closed on April 3 due to danger. Then, an inspection showed that there were problems with lighting in the toilets for the disabled, the approaches to the sea were slippery due to algae, the railings were rusty, the stairs were dangerous, and there were also a lot of cables sticking out.
At a meeting of the city council, it was said that 197 out of 264 sections of the fence were defective. That is, almost everything! Since the opening of Los Charcos, something has been constantly happening there.