Several dozen loggerhead turtles hatch on Levante beach in Benidorm

Benidorm's Levante beach experienced a unique moment last night: the birth of several dozen loggerhead turtles. Around midnight, the local police and the 112 emergency line received several calls from people on Levante promenade, reporting the presence of very small turtles waddling on the sand near 26 Avenida de Madrid.

Several local police units were dispatched to the scene, along with Mónica Gómez, the Councillor for Beaches and Environment, as well as the City Council's rural guard. The protocol for these types of cases, which the University of Valencia (UV), the Oceanographic Institute of Valencia, and the NGO Xaloc are involved in, was implemented.

Local police officers, awaiting biologists and specialists from the UV and the Oceanogràfic, proceeded to cordon off the area and guard the juvenile turtles found on the beach, 37 of them alive and two dead. While safeguarding the safety of all the recovered specimens, UV and Oceanogràfic staff, volunteers from the NGO Xaloc, and the rural guard tried unsuccessfully throughout the night to locate the nest by following the various traces the turtles had left in a wide area of sand, where no pockets of greater density were observed.

Of the specimens recovered alive, 30 were released before dawn in Cala del Ti Ximo, after their health status and measures had been assessed. The seven turtles are now at the Oceanogràfic facilities, where they will participate in the institution's head-starting program for a year, growing up in a controlled environment before being released into the sea.

The City Council and Oceanogràfic have indicated that it is not ruled out that more newborn turtles could be spotted in the coming hours, as eggs concentrated in a single nest have different hatching times.

In the event of a sighting, the public is asked not to touch the turtle, except to prevent it from entering the water, and to call 112 immediately.

The Mayor, Toni Pérez, stated that "Nature has surprised us again today in Benidorm, in the heart of the city, with the birth of these turtles"; he emphasized that "fortunately, this is not the first time that we have seen how Mediterranean loggerhead turtles choose our beaches" as "a safe place to lay their eggs." Something, he added, that "highlights precisely the healthiness of our coastline, of our bay."