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A sinking vessel carrying tourists has been rescued by the Spanish coast guard after four days stuck at sea off the coast of Tenerife.

According to the authorities, the boat got into difficulty 52.5 miles north of the largest Canary Island with four men onboard suffering dehydration as a result of the ordeal.

One British, one French and two Moroccan tourists indicated they had “been adrift for four days” when rescue teams arrived on Tuesday 17 September.

The men are said to have made a ‘Mayday’ call when the inflatable boat they were travelling on started to take on water.

The Spanish Coast Guard reported that the inflatable “requested help through an Iridium satellite device 52.5 miles north of Tenerife”.

Green Power, a bulk carrier ship sailing under the Panamanian flag, responded to the call for help alongside the Spanish Coast Guard.

The tourists, who were all found alive, were winched to safety by a Helimer 201 helicopter and transferred to a hospital near Tenerife South Airport for treatment.

It is currently unclear what the men had been doing at sea and how the difficulty occurred.

The Spanish Coast Guard told The Independent: “The 4 people from the inflatable boat, who indicated that they had been adrift for 4 days, were rescued by our Helimer 201 helicopter and transferred to Tenerife, where they were treated by the health and safety team.

“The inflatable was later collected by Guardia Civil.”

It’s not the first time tourists have been stranded at sea this year.

In July, a couple from Oklahoma survived being lost at sea by treading water for 36 hours after they became separated from their scuba diving group during stormy weather.

Experienced divers Nathan and Kim Maker, from Edmond, Oklahoma, were scuba diving off the Texas coast in the Gulf of Mexico when the swell from stormy weather caused them to lose the rest of their group.

The Coast Guard found the couple 15 miles from Matagorda after an aircraft spotted a flashing light in the water and directed the boat to pull them to safety.

For more travel news and advice, listen to Simon Calder’s podcast

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