Police in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands have launched a murder hunt after an 18-year-old Irish holidaymaker was killed in the early hours of Wednesday in Puerto del Carmen.
The youth, whose details have not been released by either the Irish or Spanish authorities, is believed to have been returning to his hotel about 5.30am after a night out in the resort when he and friends, also Irish, became involved in a row with a group of men. During the argument, which police think started after an incident involving the men's car, he was struck several times in the face and legs with an iron bar. He collapsed shortly afterwards and suffered heart failure.
A taxi driver who saw the incident contacted the police by mobile telephone. Although officers arrived on the scene within minutes they could do nothing to revive the youth, who was pronounced dead by paramedics from the local Red Cross station.
At least two men are being sought in connection with the killing, which comes almost two years to the day after a 41-year-old holidaymaker from London was stabbed to death in a fight in a bar in Costa Teguise, not far from Puerto del Carmen.
Puerto del Carmen is a popular holiday destination with Irish and British tourists, hosting tens of thousands of holidaymakers every year.
Police in Puerto del Carmen said the body was being held at the morgue and no further details of the murder would be released until the postmortem had been completed and the family of the dead boy had been informed. They referred to the dead teenager as Derek C and said his companions were aged 16 and 27. They said they were Irish but gave no details as to where they were from.
There were conflicting reports from Lanzarote last night about how the fatal incident occured. One source maintained it was a straight fight between two groups while another referred to a road rage incident. The Department of Foreign Affairs said it was liaising with the victim's family. "The department is aware of the death of an Irish citizen in the Canary Islands," a spokeswoman said.
"Officials are in contact with the Irish Embassy in Madrid and the Honorary Consul in Lanzarote and are offering consular assistance to the victim's family."
A similar death occurred on the neighbouring island of Gran Canaria on April 26th, 2003 when Dubliner Daniel O'Callaghan (24) received head injuries after running from another man. He died on May 13th that year after being on a life-support machine.
The Dublin Coroner's Court was subsequently told the Spanish authorities did little to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death. It found that Mr O'Callaghan, Windsor Road, Rathmines, Dublin, was unlawfully killed.
He had been on holiday with three friends, from whom he had become separated before the incident which resulted in his death.
State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy found after a postmortem that the cause of death was a head injury caused by blunt force trauma.
There was a fracture on his forehead and skull.