Praia de Santo Amaro in Oeiras is the first beach in Portugal to boast a life-saving drone capable of rescuing up to four swimmers at a time.
The drone is equipped with a rescue buoy which can be transported and deployed near victims in “less than a minute”.
Hopes are that the drone will make rescue operations easier and swifter.
“From what we have seen, it takes just 40 seconds to take a rescue buoy to a victim. It’s a vital investment,” Oeiras mayor Isaltino Morais told members of the press at the presentation of the drone.
Ricardo Ribeiro, commander of the Paço de Arcos fire station, said: “It can travel as fast as 55km/hour, withstand winds of 30km/hour and transport objects as heavy as seven kilos.”
He added that the rescue buoy automatically inflates once it touches the water.
The drone cost around €5,000 and the plan is to use it in other situations outside of the bathing season. For example, it can be deployed during urban fires and equipped with a “thermal camera”.
“If a fire has broken out in a building and victims are inaccessible on the last floors, we can use the drone to take them first-aid kits, bottles of water, masks and even communicate with them,” Ribeiro explained.
Drones are becoming an increasingly important tool for emergency rescue services.
Readers may recall that Lagoa firefighters recently received a recon drone to provide much-needed assistance, allowing them to scan forests and hard-to-reach cliff areas where walkers or fishermen may get stuck.
“Our ‘soldiers of peace’ are often put into risky situations even before knowing whether victims are in a certain spot. Thus, this complementary tool (drone) will help locate a victim and assist in rescue operations,” said Lagoa mayor Francisco Martins in June when the drone was donated to the station.
michael.bruxo@algarveresident.com
