A holiday dare between two British brothers ended in tragedy off the coast between Cambrils and Salou. Both men, on vacation with their family, jumped from a catamaran ferry after drinking heavily and raced each other to the Ponent beach bar. Only one reached shore.
Police say the brothers, aged 45 and 43, had been drinking throughout the ferry ride. The captain of the Dorimar catamaran, which runs between Cambrils and Salou, eventually cut them off. Ignoring warnings, the brothers climbed out a window as the boat neared land and tried to swim to the beach bar, each hoping to win the dare.
The Spanish Maritime Safety Agency says alcohol contributes to more than 30% of drowning incidents on Spanish coasts each summer.
Their parents and other relatives watched from the boat as the situation quickly turned serious. Crew and family raised the alarm when one brother began struggling in the water. Emergency services received the call at 18:41 and sent three ambulances and a team of psychologists to help the family. Despite their efforts, the 45-year-old man drowned before rescuers could reach him.
This is not an isolated case. Since June 15, when the summer season began, 26 people have drowned on Catalonia’s beaches, already more than the 20 deaths recorded for all of 2025. The Real Federación Española de Salvamento y Socorrismo reports that this is the deadliest summer since records began in 2015, with 239 drownings nationwide between June and August. That same weekend, two more men died in separate incidents on the Girona coast: a 78-year-old in Lloret de Mar and a 69-year-old French tourist in Colera. Emergency teams could revive neither man.
These deaths are part of a wider pattern. The rise in drownings has brought renewed scrutiny of safety rules on Spanish beaches and boats. Alcohol and poor supervision often accompany overconfidence in open water. Authorities now routinely send medical and psychological support to such incidents, reflecting the growing scale of the problem.
The Spanish Ministry of Health recently launched a nationwide campaign urging beachgoers to avoid swimming after consuming alcohol, citing a impressive increase in preventable drownings over the past three years. The campaign includes multilingual warnings and enhanced lifeguard patrols in high-risk areas.
The Cambrils case is dramatic, but it is one example of a broader trend of preventable deaths along Spain’s coast. The impact reaches beyond victims, affecting their families and emergency workers while damaging local tourism’s reputation. As seen in other recent tragedies, calls for stricter enforcement and better public awareness are growing.
Spain’s beaches attract millions every summer, but the spike in drownings exposes a dangerous gap between leisure and responsibility. The Cambrils incident is a clear warning: mixing alcohol and bravado in open water can be fatal. Without stronger action by authorities and operators, alongside safer choices by the public, the number of deaths is likely to rise.
