An excess of drinks, drugs... and death: Magaluf is notorious for bingeing by British teenagers, but now the results are proving fatal

By SUE REID

Young British boys and girls are putting themselves at risk in Magaluf by bingeing on alcohol and drugs

As dawn breaks on another sizzling summer’s day in Majorca, thousands of British teenagers stumble out of a huge dance club at 4am and spill into a seedy street full of neon-lit bars, lap-dancing joints and cheap kebab takeaways.
A 17-year-old girl in white shorts crashes drunkenly to the ground, legs askew, surrounded by her swaying friends. A group of boys lurch past, clutching Red Bull and vodka cocktails that they’ve bought for the equivalent of 25p. Their eyes are glazed and they burble incoherently in Manchester accents.

One young reveller holds another up on the Punta Ballena strip, a notorious bar and club area of Magaluf on the Spanish island of Mallorca

It has been a long night in the holiday resort of Magaluf and the main strip, called Punta Ballena, still pulsates to the deafening boom-de-boom music that started well before midnight.
The pavement is sticky with vomit and littered with cigarette butts as the young British revellers queue up for yet more cheap cocktails until the Punta Ballena bars finally close at 6am. Lying at their feet is the tell-tale paraphernalia of so-called ‘hippy crack’ — countless red and blue balloons that have been used to suck in lungfuls of laughing gas (nitrous oxide).

Too much, too young: The age of British drinkers in Magaluf is falling from early 20s to some as young as 16, islanders have reported

Costing £3.90 a shot, they give the holidaymakers a burst of euphoria that is similar to the effects of a snort of cocaine.
Welcome to Magaluf — party central for young Britons every summer. However, there is a new and chilling danger for those who view a holiday of hot sun, dirt cheap booze and night after night on the Punta Ballena as a ‘rite of passage’ between youth and adulthood.

According to new figures from the Foreign Office, 10 Britons a week in Majorca and neighbouring Ibiza end up in hospital after having accidents following a drinking session

According to new figures from the Foreign Office, ten Britons a week in Majorca and neighbouring Ibiza end up in hospital after having accidents following a drinking session.
Majorca has seen a 132 per cent rise in such hospital cases and this spring three British youngsters were killed after falling off balconies or down steep stairwells in Magaluf.
At this time of year the resort is a magnet for 12,000 youngsters from all over the UK as they celebrate the end of exams or their school days.

An ambulance is called for one holidaymaker, with a female friend clearly seen in distress behind him

‘They all seem desperate to drink to excess, which is bewildering to us Spanish. There are plenty taking cannabis and ecstasy tablets, too. We have police patrolling the Punta Ballena, but there is nothing we can do to stop them partying.’
‘Yes, Magaluf is where we all want to be,’ confirmed dark-haired Mollie Last, 18, who finished her A-levels last term. She was sitting with two friends from Swansea, Alex and Rachel, at a busy bar on the Punta Ballena at four in the morning.

The clubs and bars of Punta Ballena go on till 6am, which is in turn fueling a rise in crime and injuries

She told me: ‘My mum didn’t want me to come to Magaluf. She thought it would be dangerous.’
Indeed, Mollie says there was a stabbing here on the Punta Ballena a few days ago and, in another terrifying incident, three holidaymakers were injured when they were mowed down by a car hurtling into a crowd on Sunday night.
But it’s the balcony deaths that have been the most frightening. They have involved British youngsters falling from high up in their hotels or apartment blocks, invariably in the early hours of the morning after leaving the Punta Ballena strip and often while high on drugs or after all-night drinking binges.


The young Brits in Magaluf are drinking to dangerous levels, and are doing harm to themselves (and others) as a consequence of these actions

The holiday company Thomson specifically warns of the dangers on its website. It says: ‘Never sit or lean over the balcony rail and do not try to pass items to someone on another balcony. Never attempt to climb from one balcony to another . . . after drinking alcohol as your judgment might be affected.’

source: dailymail