A runaway personal watercraft careened into a popular restaurant and beach club on El Médano beach in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, yesterday, killing a souvenir vendor and injuring two tourists, authorities confirmed. 

“This afternoon there was an unfortunate accident at El Médano beach in Cabo San Lucas, an out-of-control Jet Ski was projected at high speed onto the beach area,” said the state coordinator of Civil Protection, Carlos Godínez León.

The afternoon appeared uneventful and somewhat lazy as a smattering of customers at the Mango Deck restaurant and a handful of beachgoers enjoyed the late afternoon sun in the moments leading up to the crash.

A security camera on the restaurant’s patio caught the tragic incident as a pair of tourists in bathing suits stood under beach umbrellas in the Mango Deck’s fenced-off beach club watching the waves. A female beach vendor clad in white walks slowly into the frame, her arms laden with souvenirs for sale.

The watercraft, which was unmanned, sped toward the beach, taking a slight curve to the right as it neared the shore before it hit the sand and struck the woman. It then smashed through a fence to collide with the pair of tourists, who had turned their backs to the sea.

As restaurant staff and patrons scurry to help the injured, an orange life vest can be seen hanging from the watercraft’s handles.

Mango Deck employees performed CPR on the trinket vendor, Alejandra García de la Rosa, as she lay motionless in the sand, but were unable to revive her.

The two tourists are reported to have sustained serious injuries and were taken to a private hospital.

“Our facilities were directly damaged and our image collaterally, but what concerns us … are the sad consequences of the accident,” the restaurant posted on Facebook as commenters wondered how the incident occurred.

Source: La Jornada (sp)