Jorge Acosta, 53, drowned during a surf session while on vacation in the Maldives. Photo: Quemao Class//screenshot
A Spanish surfer on vacation in the Maldives passed away after drowning while surfing off the island of Gaafu Dhaalu Gaadhoo on Monday, May 18. The surfer was identified as 53-year-old Jorge Acosta of the Canary Islands.
Local media outlets say the incident occurred at 12:57 p.m. as Acosta was surfing off a tourist boat. He was transported to the island’s health center, a mile away, but was pronounced dead upon arrival. Local authorities have not disclosed the series of events that led to the drowning.
A friend of Acosta, Franito Saenz, who is not in the Maldives, told Lancelot Digital he suspected that Acosta’s board knocked him unconscious in the water. Saenz said Acosta was a skilled, longtime surfer on the island of Lanzarote.
According to Duke Surf, Acosta was surfing a right-hander called Blue Bowls on the east side of the island.
The Instagram account for the Quemao Class, a local surf competition on Lanzarote, put out a statement in remembrance of Acosta. “We’ve lost a great friend of the Lanzarote surfing community, a true legend of our waves,” it reads.
The tragedy comes just four days after five Italian divers died in a cave accident on the Maldivian island of Vaavu 200 miles to the north.
