112 incident
Sleeping man dies after being run over by cleaning vehicle on Catalan beachThe victim was rushed to hospital in Tarragona but died the following day
Añádenos en Google View of Tarragona. (A. S.)Natalia Penza
01/07/2026 a las 13:07h.A man has died on a Spanish beach after being run over by a cleaning vehicle.
The victim was asleep on the sand when he was hit in the early-morning drama.
He was rushed to hospital after being treated at the scene and arrived at the medical centre conscious.
But he died the following day at Joan XXIII Hospital in the east coast city of Tarragona following the incident at the nearby L’Arrabassada beach.
A police investigation into the tragedy is ongoing.
The driver of the cleaning vehicle has told officers he didn’t see the man he hit, around 6am on Sunday morning, until after the accident.
He passed a breath-test conducted at the scene.
The victim is understood to have been sleeping under a blanket which meant he wasn’t as visible as he would have been under normal circumstances.
His nationality has not yet been made public.
L’Arrabassada Beach is a long and wide family beach at the north of Tarragona’s seafront, consisting mainly of fine, golden sand.
It is just over a mile and a half from the city marina.
Canaries case
In December 2024 a German tourist died in a Gran Canaria beach horror after being run over by a delivery vehicle as she sunbathed on the sand.
The 64-year-old victim was killed virtually instantly after the 4x4 pick-up went over her chest at the Brit-popular Playa del Ingles resort while her husband was taking a dip in the sea.
The driver of the vehicle that hit her failed to stop and after being tracked down by police shortly after the lunchtime tragedy on 2 December 2024 insisted he had no idea he had just hit someone.
The incident happened near the famous Maspalomas dunes a few feet away from a beach kiosk believed to be among those the pick-up delivered merchandise to.
The driver was described locally at the time as a 50-year-old who had been working on the beach for a decade and knew the area very well.