This is the dramatic moment beachgoers can be heard screaming as a ‘mini-tsunami’ crashes into the coastline in southern Spain.
At least eight people, including children, were left injured after the powerful wave slammed into the beach in Mazagon, Huelva on Wednesday.
Footage of the incident, which occurred around 4pm on Wednesday, shows a dark-coloured mass of water speeding towards the beach before hitting a large rock in the water and rebounding back onto the sand.
A woman sunbathing on the beach can be heard yelling: ‘The rock, the rock’ as the wave comes towards her.
One woman, identified only as 28-year-old Rocio, had to be hospitalised.
Speaking to Spanish media from her hospital bed, she told reporters she had a broken foot and was waiting to be operated on, as she showed off her foot.
‘I was coming out of the water with a paddle board when the wave hit me from the left and knocked me to the ground’, she told of her ordeal.
‘I couldn’t see anything and got trapped under the board. I only found out what had happened and that a ship was to blame when I got to hospital.’
‘I’ve got to have an operation on my foot and I’ve got a long period of rehabilitation ahead of me.
‘It’s the last thing I wanted at the start of the summer.’
The people injured are thought to have been smashed against rocks to the left of where she had been sitting.
One witness said afterwards on social media: ‘It passed very close to the shore and caused a strong wave that swept several people away.
‘People were literally thrown to the ground.’
The drama has been blamed on manoeuvres by a 60,000 ton cargo ship.
An investigation into the incident was ongoing today, with local authorities trying to ascertain whether the cargo ship had breached rules on how far out to sea it had to be and what speed it must stick to.
The local harbour master’s office said overnight a new speed limit in the area for this type of vessel had been set at 11.5 knots to avoid a repeat of the situation.