Marbella’s Lago de las Tortugas had people scratching their heads when a brand-new Mercedes van was found just under the surface.
The vehicle was a rental one (with driver) belonging to Balling Transfer which offers a premium service in this kind of van-hire sector on the Costa del Sol with a fleet of 40 high-range vehicles… Well, 39, now.
A walker, visiting the lake, could have sworn he could make out the roof of a large vehicle just under the surface, so he informed the police. In the meantime, the owner of the company had reported one of his Mercedes missing, along with its driver.
The driver was supposed to pick up some clients at Málaga Airport and take them to Fuengirola. The service finished at 00.30h the next morning (Monday) and after that… nothing was heard from the driver or of the van until the walker saw the submerged Mercedes in the said lake.
Well, a diver from fire service was called in to check out the van lying at a depth of 3.5m. Having established that it was the missing van, it was winched out. Fortunately, there was no driver inside, nor anywhere under the water in the lake.
Next, the Policía Nacional took charge of the investigation. The next day, Tuesday, the driver turned up at work, minus the van, of course. He explained to his boss that after finishing with the clients, he decided to pop long to El Lago de Tortugas for ‘a picnic.’ He didn’t let on whether he was by himself or not.
He went on to explain that he had parked too close to the edge of the lake, and thanks to the recent prolonged rains, the bank gave away and the van rolled in… He then decided to make himself scarce rather than report it… for whatever reason…
(News: Marbella, Costa del Sol, Malaga, Andalucia)
Keywords: Van Hire, Driver, Mercedes, Lago de Las Tortugas, Sunken, Winched Out, Mystery
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