The only survivor is the boat’s 62-year-old helmsman. The victims located are an 11-year-old boy and a 23-year-old man. The father of the boy and the man’s brother have yet to be found.
Searches to find the two people missing from Sunday’s shipwreck near Tróia, Grândola, were resumed this morning. According to the spokesman for the Portuguese Maritime Authority (AMN) and the Portuguese Navy, Commander José Sousa Luís, the search began at 07h30, and the area has been extended to eight nautical miles (around 14 kilometres) to the west and south, down to Comporta.
The Navy ship NRP Sines, a speedboat from the Sines Life-Saving Station and the Maritime Police from the Sesimbra Life-Saving Station are involved in the search operations at sea.
On land, a coastal surveillance vehicle from the Maritime Police with a drone, another from the Navy and a quad bike from the Maritime Police are also actively involved in the search operations.
The boat, which was carrying five people (four men and a boy) for what was supposed to be a leisurely trip to catch cuttlefish, sank at around 07h00 on Sunday, about a mile and a half (approximately three kilometres) from Troia. However, the Maritime Police was only alerted at 10h05.
The helmsman and owner of the fishing boat “Lingrinhas, a 62-year-old man, was rescued alive from the sea by another boat passing through the area on Sunday. Later that day, at around 14h20, the bodies of the boy, whose father, aged 45, is still missing, and an adult, aged 30, whose brother, aged 21, is the other missing person, were located and taken to Forensic Medicine in Setúbal.
According to police reports, one of the bodies was located by the maritime police boat, and the Air Force helicopter spotted the other. Both bodies were close to the vessel that sank.
“There is no family relationship between these two families”, but the four missing “are from Cadoços, Grândola”, said the captain of the Port of Setúbal and local commander of the Maritime Police, Serrano Augusto, on Monday, taking the opportunity to correct the child’s age. “His age has now been officially confirmed, which was 11. He wouldn’t be 12 until next summer,” he said.
Although the boy was reported to be wearing a life vest at the time, it is believed he died of hypothermia.
The commander of the Maritime Police told Lusa on Sunday that the helmsman was surprised by “a blow from the sea, which caused the passengers to be thrown into the water”. Despite his manoeuvres, the boat capsized and sank.
