Divers are preparing to continue this Friday, when the sea is expected to be calmer.
14ymedio, Havana, 7 March 2025 — Rescue teams searched unsuccessfully on Thursday for the body of a teenager who drowned on Havana’s Malecón. The boy, aged around 16, was swimming in the area when he was swept away by strong waves.
“From the moment of the warning, rescue experts entered the water to conduct a broad search from the surface of the sea and inland, but the boy was not found,” the Municipal Assembly of People’s Power of Centro Habana reported on social media.
The situation forced a request for help from other teams, such as the divers of the border guards, but the sea conditions prevented progress, in the face of the strong winds of the cold front that has settled in the west of the islands. The authorities have assured that the search will continue on Friday at dawn.
The Meteorological Institute (Insmet) has predicted a decrease in waves for today, although it will be the afternoon before it calms down. In addition, a sharp drop in temperatures is expected for this morning, with values between 52 and 57 degrees, which in some places could drop to 50.
“It is not a suitable place for swimming and the weather conditions created violent waves that overflowed the seawall.”
“It is regrettable that such events occur, taking into account that this is a place with restrictions and is not an appropriate place for swimming and the weather conditions created violent waves that overflowed the seawall,” the authorities of Centro Habana stated on their Facebook account, encouraging comments that pointed out the young people’s recklessness.
Social media has been filled with reactions in this regard, highlighting how dangerous it is to swim in the Malecón area, the lack of options for young people to have fun and the recklessness due to this lack of alternatives and lack of awareness of the risk. “It has nothing to do,” says one user, “with the boy swallowed by the sewer” ten days ago.
The death of Jonathan Oliva, the 12-year-old boy who died during the torrential rains of Monday, February 24, is too recent. The minor, who lived in Luyanó, was sucked into a sewer that was presumably uncovered and hidden from view by the accumulations of water that occurred that day. The poor sanitation of the streets of the capital caused countless sewers to collapse, causing flooding almost three feet deep in some places.
On that occasion, divers also had to search for the child in Havana Bay, finding the body about 24 hours after the tragic event.
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