Three Algarve families are in mourning today after the identities of the five bodies ‘carbonised’ in a terrible road accident on Monchique’s EN266 yesterday have been revealed.
Carlos Soares, the driver and mechanic owner of two fuel stations in Carvoeiro and Lagoa, was travelling with his long-time friends Vítor Santos, owner of Carvoeiro’s well-known and hugely popular A Marisqueira restaurant, and Jorge “Juary” Costa, a former footballer from the Santarém district, now residing in Lagoa.
Santos’ grandson and president of the Lagoa JSD (youth arm of the PSD political party) Gonçalo Oliveira, was also in the car, as was Jorge Costa’s 17-year-old son Cristiano from Salvaterra de Magos, where he lived with his mother.
The five had all been having breakfast in Monchique, and were on their way back down south when something happened to send Soares’ Jaguar flying into a ravine, and bursting into flames on impact.
Forensic tests, autopsies, etc., have to come, but for now the awful sadness is hanging over a community where all these people were known, loved/respected and, in the case of the youngest victims, only just making their ways in the world.
Lagoa mayor Luís Encarnação has written personally over social media that the municipality (in which all five lived) has been “hit by an enormous tragedy that leaves us in shock and profoundly sad. Five Lagoa residents lost their lives abruptly. The loss is irreparable, and we all feel the absence of people who left much too quickly.
“In my own name, I wish to send the families and friends of the victims my solidarity and heartfelt embrace in this horribly painful moment.
“May they rest in peace”.
Collectively, the municipality has declared a day of mourning in respect of the victims and their families.
Tributes to the five continue to circulate over social media.
Funerals have yet to be announced, but this was an accident that reverberated around the region. People did not have to be from Lagoa to be deeply affected by it. It is enough that this happened to five local people who were simply enjoying a Sunday morning together when suddenly ‘it was all over’.
Local PSD MP Cristóvão Norte has posted his sadness over social media, remarking that Gonçalo Oliveira had “only yesterday celebrated his 21st birthday”.
Describing the young man as “very lucid, committed with a contagious drive for civic duty and unwavering generosity”, Norte too alluded to the “life and dreams” that young Gonçalo Oliveira will have had.
“It was a privilege to hear you, to be your friend – even though this was all too brief. As president of the PSD Algarve, I decree institutional mourning and address my sentiments to all Gonçalo’s family members and friends, as well as to all those who lost their lives”.
So far, all that is known of this tragedy is that the five were found outside the car, carbonised, after it came off the road close to the bridge over the Carrasqueira stream.
Reports talk of the vehicle being so badly burnt it was impossible to tell its make; identify its licence plate or (later) a chassis number.
Early talk over television stations described “deep brake marks” on the road. Was the car trying to avoid something? All this is going to take time to establish. Were there any other cars whose drivers remember a Jaguar passing in a north-south direction? Was it going particularly fast?
There will be dozens of questions, but for now there is just deep sadness and mourning as yet another car accident in Portugal destroys the lives of people no longer here, and of so many others who have to learn to live with their loss.
