This drone business is getting out of control as a further incident was reported today by the captain of a KLM Boeing after a drone "flew by its side" at 1,200 metres above sea level above the Bugio lighthouse situated in the River Tagus estuary.

The incident occurred at 2.30 p.m. on Monday,June 19th as the pilots of the Boeing 737-800 realised that a drone was flying alongside as the plane approached Lisbon airport in an area that also is used for landing and take-off from Cascais aerodrome.

The single most destructive company to the Algarve’s image, the one that has caused more misery, complaint and anger than any other in the car rental sector, has been bought by French-owned Europcar.

Goldcar, run by socoipathic Spaniards employing thick-skinned, ‘don’t care,’ commission-driven staff, has been sold to the French company which wants to “strengthen its presence in the low-cost segment.”

Four people were drowned over the weekend at Farol beach, a pool in Tavira, and off the coast in the Lagos area.

A 48-year-old man drowned and died at Praia do Farol beach on the Ria Formosa island of Culatra and a 76-year-old man was found unconscious in a residential pool in the Tavira area and taken to hospital in critical condition.

As the grim task of identifying the charred bodies left in the path of the Pedrógão Grande fire continues as news has been released that one of the injured firemen has died in hospital.

According to the president of the fire service, Jaime Marta Soares, the 63rd victim is a 30-year-old firefighter from Castanheira de Pêra who had been hospitalised in Coimbra on Sunday with serious burns.

The Public Prosecutor's Office has closed the investigation into the death of a recidivist burglar in September 2015. Paulo Brito died after breaking in to Trevor and Jill Taylor’s Vilamoura property in 2015, being tackled by Trevor and his son Scott, and being held in a neck-lock until the GNR showed up.

The prosecutor "concludes that the death was by asphyxiation caused by two British household dwellers, father and son, but that both acted in self-defence", reads a note on the website of the Faro District Attorney's Office.

National and international media has been reporting extensively on the forest fire in the Leiria district that so far has claimed the lives of 61 people, including four children, many of whom were burnt alive in their vehicles are they tried to flee the flames sweeping through tinder-dry forests. 59 are known to be injured, many of them seriously.

The great fire of Pedrógão Grande is the latest entry in Portugal’s history books as the government announces three days of national mourning with Jorge Gomes, the Secretary of State for the Interior, the Prime Minster and the President of the Republic (who has cancelled all appointments for the week ahead) all deeply involved in doing what is necessary for those affected by the devastation caused by a fire that is still raging.

At dawn on Sunday, the government declared a state of emergency due to a forest fire that had broken out early on Saturday afternoon in the Leiria district. Already 43 are confirmed dead.

The deadly forest fire swept over villages and countryside at Pedrógão Grande, 50 kilometres south-east of Coimbra,  trapping many in their cars and overwhelming those who tried to run away from the blaze which has left 59 people injured, including several fire fighters and a child.

An Aero Vip flight coming in to land at Cascais aerodrome had to dive out of the way to avoid hitting a drone flying at 300 metres altitude.

The incident above Cascais Aerodrome happened at around 6.00pm on Friday evening with Captain Jorge Cernadas later stating:  "On the approach Cascais I glimpsed an object that I thought was a bird. As I approached, I realised that it was a large, four-rotor drone. I had to dive to avoid a collision with the drone, which passed about five meters above the left wing."