A well-respected ultra-distance triathlete from the municipality of Mogán, Suso Muñoz Jiménez (58), has died in Arguineguín after suffering a suspected fainting spell while free-diving in the municipal pool. Medical staff, including a health technician, a nurse and a psychologist from the Red Cross, attended the scene, attempting to revive him, and even called for the Canarian Emergency Service (SUC) helicopter, but in the end certified his death at the scene after more than half an hour of cardiopulmonary massage.
The first reports came in around 14:00 on Thursday afternoon when the main 112 Emergency and Security Coordination Centre (CECOES) were alerted that a person who had been swimming was suffering from a suspected cardiorespiratory arrest. According to sources consulted by Spanish language daily La Provincia, Suso had bee practicing a Static Apnea technique, floating face down in the water, when lifeguards at the facility realised that he had been face down for too long. When they approached him they found that he was unconscious. They immediately pulled him out of the water and, upon verifying that he was in cardiac arrest, they proceeded to start resuscitation work.
Mogán Policia Local dispatched the doctor and nurse from Arguineguín health centre, who then continued with the cardiopulmonary massages together with the technicians from two SUC ambulances, one of them basic life support and the other medicalised, which had also been mobilised. At the same time, the Mogán Protección Civil were notified, so as to enable the nearby soccer field for the possibility that the medical helicopter would have to land.
Despite the large number of resources deployed to the site, including the aircraft that came to land; the doctor certified Suso’s death after more than 30 minutes trying to recover his vital signs.
The deceased was a renowned triathlete from the southwestern municipality of Gran Canaria who in recent years has participated in long-distance events, such as the Lanzarote Ironman; the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Marathon, the 128-kilometre Transgrancanaria mountain race and the local Traiña Trail, in which he won in 2014 in the over 45 years category. Among his many achievements were some long distance swim crossings (known as travesías), such as from Arguineguín’s Marañuelas beach to Puerto de Mogán.
The Guardia Civil took charge of the man’s body until he was transferred to the Institute of Legal Medicine in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where an autopsy will be carried out this morning to determine the causes of death.
