Madeira locals have hit out at “stupid” tourists filmed putting their “lives at risk” after they were captured walking dangerously close to choppy seas on the Portuguese archipelago.
A group of people were seen walking out to Madalena do Mar pier, west of the island, with a video posted on February 14 showing the moment waves violently lapped against the outcrop.
The footage showed one member of the group was seemingly captured by the vicious waters but managed to escape.
Madeira residents have taken to the internet en masse to condemn the tourists’ carelessness.
Some had strong words for the tourists, branding them “stupid” and “idiots”.
The short nine-second video, which was first obtained by local outlet Journal Madeira and shared by Madeira Island News, shows one of the group’s members standing on the edge of the pier during choppy seas.
As one wave leaps up the platform, the tourist runs away and manages to reach the rest of the group sitting on the pier’s steps.
Locals have criticised the group, with internet one user, Dijon, saying: “Stupid is as stupid does. Common sense is not very common. Natural selection at work.”
Another questioned: “Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest being tested?”
Tourists have previously endangered themselves on the Madeira coast, with others having not been able to find safety from the island’s choppy waters.
In October 2023, a Lithuanian tourist died after she was swept into the sea at Ponta Delgada, to the island’s north.
The tourist, 63, was on a pontoon with her husband when she fell into the water, and her body was recovered by Air Force personnel in a helicopter hours later.
Earlier that year, an unidentified man fell into the sea off the coast of the city of Funchal after getting into difficulties in the water.
Madeira officials reported that 11 people died after falling into the sea around the island last year, close to half of whom were tourists.
Rui Manuel Teixeira, Commander of the Maritime Zone of Madeira, said that four foreigners died after taking pictures in high-risk areas.
