This Friday marks two years since the death of Marc Ortega Cabañó, a resident of Begur (Baix Empordà), who drowned at the age of 23 while doing breath-hold work in the buoy field of the Sa Riera Nautical Club. An iron chain he wore around his waist as ballast with tools to tie the ropes to the boats got caught with the chain that connected the buoy to the anchored concrete block, and they could not rescue him in time. After its investigation, the Labor Inspectorate proposed a financial penalty for the club’s responsible parties, for a work accident that occurred while performing an activity classified as “dangerous,” and “without any of the means that the applicable regulations consider essential.” The Investigating Court 3 of La Bisbal d’Empordà handling the case has not yet summoned anyone to testify, neither witnesses nor suspects.
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The family members and about twenty friends, who this Friday went to the place where he died to remember him by throwing flowers into the sea, are surprised and notably angry at what they consider “judicial neglect.” Faced with this slowness, which they believe is “unjustified by all actors in the judicial system, in such a serious case resulting in death,” they have announced mobilizations in front of the courts. About a hundred people are willing to mobilize every week if necessary.
Since the initiation of the proceedings opened on May 16, 2024, the prosecution and the Public Prosecutor’s Office have requested extensions of the investigation every six months, as established by law, arguing that “the investigation has not been completed and essential investigative actions remain to be carried out, such as the judicial testimony of the suspects or the execution of the agreed expert reports.”
During these two years, two female judges have been in charge of the court, who have been granting the extensions, but none have summoned or taken testimony from either suspects or witnesses. Before the Labor Inspectorate, Judicial Police (PJ) of the Civil Guard, and the Civil Guard’s Specialist Group in Underwater Activities (GEAS)—who carry out the Technical Expert Report on the facts—some witnesses have testified. However, according to sources close to the case, those who held some responsibility at the Nautical Club, once summoned before the police, have exercised their right not to testify. The technical report will be delivered to the court shortly.
A month ago, the Generalitat’s Department of Labor asked the Court to report as soon as possible on the procedural status of the case—in which a sanctioning file was opened against the Sa Riera Nautical Club—and to inform them in case of any judicial resolution. Not only is there no resolution, but the investigation is far from being closed.
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The CCOO union, which has followed the case from the beginning, points out that “if the information indicating serious negligence by the Nautical Club is confirmed, they will file a complaint with the Labor Inspectorate for this fatal accident.” Depending on the outcome of the investigations, they do not rule out “initiating legal actions against those possibly responsible for this death.” They have made it clear that they “will continue fighting to improve working and safety conditions in the professional diving sector, ensuring that the necessary measures are adopted to prevent future tragedies.”
Marc Ortega had been working for years at the Sa Riera Nautical Club. In May 2024, a specialized company from Cadaqués had set up the buoy field (about 40) that were removed, along with the boats, at the end of the season. Each boat was secured at the bow and stern to buoys that were in turn fixed with a metal chain (guide) to a concrete block (dead weight) on the bottom. Although the Nautical Club claimed that Ortega was a “land sailor,” at the time of the accident he was submerged. According to sources in the case, although the external company was supposed to finish the work, “someone insistently ordered” the victim to tie the stern guides of the boats so they would not be tied only by the bow and swing.
Although, according to the investigation, he had no training for it, nor equipment, they gave him a wetsuit to tie the stern ropes and he tied an iron chain around his waist as ballast. To close it, he used a shackle to which he attached a wrench to do the work, diving on a single breath, in apnea. He performed this operation more than ten times until he ran out of shackles to tie ropes, and his partner went by boat to the dock to get more. At that moment, he heard screams and saw him moving his arms. He quickly returned and tried to bring him to the surface, as did two other people who went to help, but they could not succeed. Fate wanted the carabiner he carried on the waist chain to get caught on the buoy’s chain and weigh him down to the bottom. “Making an enormous effort,” sources say, he managed to surface several times to breathe. When they realized he was caught and managed to pull him out, it was too late, and nothing could be done to save his life.
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