Searches for three fishermen still missing ‘suspended’ for weekend
With three fishermen still missing as a result of the shipwreck off Marinha Grande on Wednesday, president Marcelo has been in Figueira da Foz, attending the funerals of the three retrieved from the sea, talking with the families and accompanying local mayor Pedro Santana Lopes, in giving support.
One of the men rescued alive remains in hospital, in intensive care – while two others who needed hospital treatment, including the boat’s skipper, have already been discharged.
An inquiry has been opened into exactly what happened to cause the Virgem Dolorosa to turn turtle in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The boat’s hull can still be seen on the surface of the water – and it is just possible, admit maritime authority sources, that one or more of the missing crewmembers could be underneath it.
For the time being, however, that level of inspection has to wait for improved weather conditions.
Otherwise, next week, searches will resume, by land and sea, with the Oceanographic Institute suggesting ‘drift points to a deviation to south/ southwest’ – meaning if the men’s bodies are in the water, they are more likely to be taken in that direction.
natasha.donn@portugalresident.com
