Sun, beach, pool, good food, and drinks. Great ingredients for enjoying wonderful vacations, unless we mix some of them into an explosive combination, and everything goes awry.

A couple of Russian tourists staying at a beach hotel in Salou. As you might know, they tend to like vodka a lot.

One summer evening, after getting thoroughly drunk, the male decides to visit the hotel pool, which was no longer supervised by lifeguards.

Ignoring the depth markers around the pool and the prohibition against diving, he chooses the shallowest area (70 cm) for his dive. Headfirst into perdition he goes, under the influence of that potent Russian beverage. The expected result: severe spinal injuries.

He's immediately taken to the General Hospital of Reus, where he's diagnosed with upper limb paraplegia due to irreversible damage to the main vertebrae.

Now for the twist!

The guy's mother, who has connections with the Russian mafia, flies over to be with her son. A few days later, a medically equipped plane from Moscow arrives at Reus airport. The mother, taking full responsibility, decides to take her son back home. After completing the necessary paperwork, he's transported by ambulance, escorted by several cars, to the said airport, and flown back to Russia.

About a year later, the mother calls the hotel to thank them for the care received and to inform them of her son's complete recovery. Phew, finally a happy ending!

These cases are frequent, unfortunately often with a more tragic outcome. Especially now that major hotel chains are modifying their pools to reduce depth for activities like aquagym.

As you can see, diving headfirst into pools, seas, or rivers is not a healthy practice if you don't want to take unnecessary risks and ruin your life. Because it happens, and often. Let's hope we never have to learn about that miraculous hospital in Moscow.

Alberto Garom