'Unusual waves' prompt warning
2007-04-11 07:17
San Salvador, El Salvador - Unusually high waves killed at least two people and carried swimmers out to sea from El Salvador to Mexico, prompting authorities in some places to order swimmers out of the water on Tuesday.
Battering waves topping three metres swept away a dozen swimmers near La Libertad on Monday, 10 of whom were plucked from the sea by boats and a helicopter, Green Cross emergency worker Jose Larin said. High waves also damaged a commercial dock.
Hundreds of kilometres to the north in Mexico, 16 more people were rescued after being carried away by high surf in the resorts of Acapulco and Mazatlan. Lifeguards in Mazatlan ordered swimmers out of the surf, local media reported.
The unusual waves may be the result of swells generated last week by a powerful storm thousands of kilometres away off the western coast of South America, said US National Weather Service meteorologist Dennis Feltgen.
"It was a very impressive storm, and that storm, of course, is long dissipated," Feltgen said. "However the swells from that wave action would have been going out, and it generally takes about a week's time to get from there to the Mexican, El Salvador or Costa Rican coast."
The bodies of two Salvadorans - a 35-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy - were recovered, Larin said.
El Salvador's government issued a "green alert" on Tuesday, advising people "to avoid swimming at our beaches due to the risk", interior minister Miguel Bolanos told a news conference.
- AP