Three fire personnel from the Málaga provincial fire service were injured when their vehicle left the road and plunged down a steep embankment within the municipality of Totalán.
The victims, aged 56, 52 and 47, were injured in the accident, which occurred in the early hours of Sunday. The vehicle, which had been travelling along the MA-3202, came to rest 25 metres down at the bottom of a ravine about two kilometres from where the road begins.
The area is sparsely inhabited with just people living in farmhouses. The fire truck had turned off onto a mud track but the side of the track gave way under one of the back wheels, causing the vehicle to slide over the side, turning over several times before hitting the bottom — it was three in the morning.
Fortunately, a patrol car belonging to the Rincón de La Victoria municipal police was following behind as they had both come from a call-out over a burning van in the Lagar del Zarzo area.
Two of the crew went all the way to the bottom and one was able to get out without assistance. The third member of the fire crew was thrown clear as it descended.
The police called in the accident and another fire vehicle was despatched, along with the Guardia Civil and an ambulance. All three of the victims were conscious when the ambulance arrived to take them to the University Clinical Hospital. One was released immediately and another will probably be discharged this morning. The third will require a little long in hospital.
(News: Totalán, Axarquia, Costa del Sol, Malaga, Andalusia)