Social media star shamed for swimming in deadly cove: ‘Influencers will end up going extinct’
She was up s–t’s creek on social media.
Another day another influencer putting their life on the line for TikTok likes.
This time, Spanish social media star Marina Rivera Saldaña found herself in hot water online after swimming in a cove where bathing has been banned following a rash of deaths.
Better known as Marina Rivers online, the bikini-clad influencer frequently uploads pics and videos of herself at exotic locales to her Instagram, X and TikTok pages, where she collectively boasts over 9.5 million followers.
In a recent photo-op, taken on August 31, the bikini-clad social media uploaded photos of herself taking a dip in the Sapphire waters of the El Tancón cave in Santiago del Teide, Tenerife in the Canary Islands.
“I’m a little mermaid from Makoo,” Saldaña wrote in the caption of the photo.
While certainly, alluring on camera, the idyllic blue lagoon is reportedly off-limits to tourists due to its “bufadero,” a natural chimney-like formation with unpredictable currents that’s difficult for rescue teams to access, Tenerife Weekly reported.
As of 2021, six people have reportedly died in the cove, including Swiss native Jasmine Ben Ali, 33, and Giovanni Rodríguez, 27, from Italy, who all drowned in the pool, Jam Press reported.
Meanwhile, in 2017, an unidentified 30-year-old British tourist died after getting swept out to sea while walking past El Tancón.
Needless to say, Rivers was quickly shamed by the online masses, who accused her of disrespecting the dead and risking her life for social media clout.
“I think it’s disrespectful that you’re bathing in a place that is FORBIDDEN,” fumed one viewer on Instagram.
Another critic wrote, “That place is a death trap for those who dare to bathe. Such a dangerous place should not be advertised.”
“Bathing is forbidden there. We are sick of tourists that don’t respect our land,” declared a third.
One X user posted the official signing warning potential spelunkers of the danger while another scoffed, “Influencers will end up going extinct.”
Meanwhile, X even caveated Rivers’ post with a Community Notes advisory, in which they wrote that her pics could “encourage people to go to the place and bathe, a danger since several people have died in the place in recent years.
