Guadiana River: authorities continue to piece together what happened to missing woman
The car of Carla Leal, a 44 year old woman missing since Monday was retrieved from the river at Vila Real de Santo António yesterday, with windows broken and nobody inside.
The last time she was seen was when she left the restaurant on Santo António beach, where she works, on Monday evening, after a farewell dinner celebrating the end of the summer season. She was wearing a beige shirt with the logo of the restaurant, and shorts of the same colour.
Carla's disappearance was reported to the authorities by her sister on Tuesday mornig, who explained that the woman had been missing since 11pm on Monday. She was driving a burgundy Nissan Terrano II R20, with the license plate 91-28-PL.
On Tuesday afternoon, João Afonso Martins, captain of the port of Vila Real de Santo António, said that marks were found “on a small curb” on the road, which indicated that the vehicle “had skidded off the road and fallen into the river”.
The woman's vehicle “was detected approximately 15 metres from the edge and 10 metres deep by firefighter divers, in line with the road markings on the kerb”.
“The way the vehicle entered the water indicates that it was going at a high speed (over 90 kilometres per hour), given its position. The vehicle was being driven and, based on this assumption, everything indicates that this was a road accident”, the captain revealed.
At the time of the incident, the current was flooding and “if the body had come loose, there is the possibility that it has gone upstream, but in the river one should not make calculations about drifting precisely”, said Martins.
The vehicle has three of the six windows broken or open.
According to the commander of the Maritime Police (PM) of Vila Real de Santo António, given that the woman was not found in the vehicle, the authorities have mobilized several resources to carry out searches in the water, as well as on the banks of the river, both on the Portuguese and Spanish sides.
At this moment, they are already in the second phase of searches, and according to João Afonso Martins, two semi-rigid boats from the VRSA PM, a semi-rigid boat from the Tavira Lifeguard Station, a maritime rescue jet ski from the VRSA Lifeguard Station, a jet ski from the Seawatch project, and a boat from the Coastal Control Unit are involved in the maritime operations.
Outside the water, PSP, GNR and Spanish Civil Protection resources are deployed in the coastal area and beaches.
In addition to these, several material and human resources from Portugal and Spain are mobilized, which carry out surveillance on the ground, concluded the official.
Portimão beaches to be supervised, even outside bathing season
A team of firefighters are going to ensure surveillance of the beaches located in the municipality of Portimão, outside the bathing season. This is the result of a protocol established between the Humanitarian Association of local Volunteer Firefighters and the City Council.
According to the local authority, “from October 1st to May 31st, a mobile water rescue and pre-hospital assistance team will ensure surveillance of the municipality's beaches”, thus safeguarding “the period not covered by the bathing season determined at government level”.
With this measure, says the local authority, “it is possible to operate a unit composed of firefighters, duly trained for surveillance and intervention on the coastline, which will operate using the municipal technical resources assigned to the municipal civil protection structure and in conjunction with the Maritime Authority”.
Operational equipment for water rescue was purchased, costing around €70,000, which “reinforce the missions attributable to the rescue vessel previously acquired by the local authority and to the local fire service," with the future purchase of more necessary material being planned in the near future.
The council say this decision to carry out ongoing surveillance is because “Portimão is a tourist destination par excellence, sought out by thousands of visitors even in the so-called low tourist season, which is why the team will patrol the municipality's beaches daily, from Praia da Rocha to Alvor, between 9 am and 6 pm”.
Guadiana River: the search resumes for missing 44 year old woman
The search for a woman who has been missing since Monday, in the Guadiana River near Vila Real de Santo António, was resumed this morning, with more than 20 operatives involved in the operation.
According to a statement released yesterday, by the National Maritime Authority (AMN), the 44 year old woman left her workplace on the evening of Monday, September 30, and did not return home,”
Initially, search operations on land by the PSP, led to information about the existence of tyre marks near the Guadiana River.
Yesterday morning, the diving team of the Firefighters of Vila Real de Santo António and Castro Marim carried out underwater searches, and the victim's vehicle was found in the Guadiana River.
The search operations in the water continued, coordinated by the port captain and local commander of the Maritime Police of Vila Real de Santo António, until they had to be paused at the end of the afternoon, without having found the victim.
This morning, Thursday, the captain of the port of Vila Real de Santo António, João Afonso Martins, confirmed that “the search resumed at 8:30 am, involving more than 20 operators, including divers.”
Meanwhile, four psychologists are supporting the family, three from the local City Council services and one from the school that the 44 year old woman's two daughters attend.
The Algarve coast will also be searched this morning, with Spanish Civil Protection resources also being activated.
Why protecting the oceans is essential
The Portuguese government is fully committed to the protection and sustainable use of the oceans, Prime Minister Luis Montenegro told the United Nations in New York on Wednesday. This commitment underscores Portugal’s leadership in global marine conservation efforts.
He said that one of his government’s main strategic priorities is fulfilling the goals of the International 2030 Agenda designed to reinforce action on ocean protection and sustainability. Demonstrating its commitment, Portugal plans to achieve the United Nations’ 2030 target of 30% protected areas by 2026, four years ahead of schedule. This announcement was made by the former prime minister, Antonio Costa, in October last year during the 2 nd Sustainable Blue Investment Forum in Estoril, Lisbon.
The findings of a recent UNESCO report reveal that increasing temperatures account for 40% of sea level rises. The rate of rising has doubled over the past 20 years, with last year seeing one of the highest increases since the 1950s. This is most concerning for low-lying islands and parts of coastal cities, towns, and villages worldwide.
Since the 1960s, the oceans have lost a significant amount of oxygen due to warming, and to pollutants such as toxic wastewater, and runoff agricultural chemicals. Conserving diversity of life on Earth and in oceans is critical to human welfare, yet essential resources are at risk directly as a result of unsustainable practises.
Marine debris, especially plastics, has reportedly impacted at least 700 marine species, from vegetation, plankton, and invertebrates, to fish, whales, and sea birds. Marine habit loss is causing the extinction of many species and poses a threat to entire ecosystems, with far-reaching consequences on biodiversity and human livelihoods.
Oceans play an integral role in climate change mitigation by absorbing some 23% of carbon dioxide emissions, and more than 90% of the excess heat generated by greenhouse gasses.
Portugal has just strongly reaffirmed its important early role in international ocean governance by engaging at the highest of levels with executive decision-makers and the United Nations.
This is in line with the Global Ocean Forum’s (GOF) recently unveiled 2024-2030 plan designed “to guide the organisations as the oceans are a holistic ecosystem, joint efforts on a global scale are required, bearing in mind new priorities and areas of focus."
A clear warning from all relevant international organisations is that oceans are the life support system of our planet, and the way we treat them will have repercussions on all.
Written by Len Port
National Water Day: the tender for Algarve desalination plant is awarded
On this National Water Day, Oct 1st, Águas do Algarve have announced that the public tender for the design, construction and operation of the Algarve desalination plant has been awarded to the complementary group of companies – ACE, formed by the companies Luságua – Serviços Ambientais, SA, Aquapor – Serviços, SA and GS Inima Enviroment, SAU.
The project represents an investment of 107 million euros, integrated into the Algarve Regional Water Efficiency Plan, with support from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP).
In a statement, Águas do Algarve says that the main reason for carrying out this investment is linked to the "need to create an alternative capable of guaranteeing the resilience of public water supply to the region's population, even in periods of prolonged drought".
The infrastructure, which will have an initial capacity to treat 16 million m3 of water, could reach 24 million m3.
Águas do Algarve recalls that the region "has suffered, over the last few years, cycles of prolonged drought associated with a situation of water scarcity that is already considered structural, resulting in a decrease in the volumes of water stored in the various available sources, and this situation is being monitored by the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), Águas de Portugal (AdP) and Águas do Algarve (AdA)".
In order to minimize this situation, the company says that several studies point to the use of seawater desalination "as one of the possible structural measures to reinforce water production capacity", within the scope of the Algarve Regional Water Efficiency Plan.
Firefighters will strike for better conditions
Lisbon firefighters will begin a a month-long strike from 1st to 31st October, for better conditions, demanding a review of the Staff Statute for Professional Firefighters in Local Administration, namely a review of the pay scale.
A source from the Lisbon Municipal Workers' Union (STML) told Lusa that the strike will start on Tuesday and will last until October 31, and also admitted the possibility of it being extended into November if the Government does not respond satisfactorily to the firefighters' demands.
According to the union, the strike was initially scheduled from October 1 to 13, but it was decided to extend the strike until the 31st after a meeting on Friday, in which no document was presented by the Secretaries of State for Civil Protection and Local Administration and Territorial Planning present to begin negotiations to review the professional status of Firefighters.
The strike is being triggered, as António Pascoal, from STML, explained to Lusa, by the "review of the Staff Statute for Professional Firefighters in Local Administration, namely the review of the pay scale, which ensures that the base pay is not lower than the Guaranteed Minimum Monthly Remuneration and fair and adequate career progression and promotion".
We have a statute that has not been revised for 22 years. In terms of pay, firefighters earn much less than the national minimum wage. At the moment, (...) we are talking about a base salary of 722 euros for a firefighter at the beginning of his career", said António Pascoal.
According to the union leader, the salary that firefighters receive "is illegal, unconstitutional, as no one can earn less than the Guaranteed Minimum Monthly Remuneration".
The sappers are also asking for the current pay scale to be corrected by more than 52 euros, for a risk supplement to be granted and for the Permanent Availability Supplement to be updated.
The Lisbon Firefighters will also participate in the national demonstration called by the National Association of Professional Firefighters (ANBP) and the National Union of Professional Firefighters (SNBP).
The demonstration, scheduled for the day of the delivery of the State Budget to the Assembly of the Republic, includes a march of professional firefighters between the Ministry of Internal Administration (MAI) and parliament.
Loulé: Cutting-edge magnetic resonance imaging equipment inaugurated
Cutting-edge magnetic resonance The brande new equipment based in the city of Loulé "will be a very important facility for improving health services throughout the region", said the Municipality of Loulé at the inauguration on Friday, September 27th.
The project promises to make a difference in the development of clinical research in the Algarve, through the performance of high-quality magnetic resonance imaging exams, in close collaboration with the Local Health Unit.
This is an advanced technology, essential for the diagnosis and monitoring of various medical conditions, in areas such as neurological, musculoskeletal, abdominal, genitourinary, breast/senology, oncology, cardiovascular or pediatrics. It is capable of producing images that are currently not possible in the NHS in the Algarve, allowing, for example, full-body, cardiac or fetal magnetic resonance imaging. And it allows this to be done “as accurately and quickly as possible”. In addition, it integrates artificial intelligence tools that will allow for an improvement in the type of image.
To coordinate this service, Helena Guerreiro, a young doctor from Loulé, left Hamburg, Germany, where she was leading a research team, to embrace this project. According to her, the facility will have three pillars: the creation of lines of research with users of the National Health Service, also framed to combat waiting lists; the creation of prospective research studies that allow the development of new techniques and new technologies for medical image acquisition; and the creation of an “ideal platform”, through the connection and collaboration between the Hospital, the Algarve Local Health Unit, the University and the Algarve Biomedical Center, to support the development of clinical research.
The MRI scans will all have to be performed by hospital referral, and are intended for users who fall within the scope of collaborative research between the Local Health Unit and the Academic Center. However, as Helena Guerreiro explained, “the goal is that, one day, these referrals can also be performed by health centers and not just by the Hospital”. “We are developing something unique, an imaging unit in an academic center, and we are trying to strengthen this connection with the ULS so that, later on, we can reach the largest possible number of users”, explained the doctor.
For the president of ABC – Algarve Biomedical Center, Pedro Castelo Branco, “this project, which is now becoming a reality, aims, above all, to boost medical research in the region, and, in this way, improve the quality of life of those who live here”.
This official highlighted the fact that the creation of this unit was only possible with the efforts of several entities such as the CCDR, through the support of community funds, the Municipality of Loulé, “a key partner in this and other projects”, the ULS which contributed with “all the medical know-how and hospital structures”, and the University of Algarve, “which contributed with all the scientific knowledge and training capacity”.
The president of ABC highlighted the contribution of this equipment in reducing waiting lists and stressed that “it will allow users in the region to access highly specialized exams that previously required travel to other areas of the country”.
The unit will temporarily operate in a container next to the Professor Joaquim Vairinhos Municipal Pavilion, but the idea is that it will be integrated into the Mariano Gago Building, the future “mother house” of the ABC, which will be built next to the Loulé Municipal Stadium. This is where other ABC facilities that are spread throughout the city of Loulé will be relocated, such as the Experimental Surgery Centre, which will operate on Rua de Betunes, explains the Loulé local authority in the same note.
This will be a building dedicated exclusively to research, in an area of 4200m2. The public tender for the project will be launched at the end of the first quarter of 2025, as announced by the Mayor of Loulé, Vítor Aleixo.
For the mayor, this magnetic resonance imaging is “another pillar of the grand project that is already – and will increasingly be – the complex ecosystem of innovation and scientific research to support Biomedicine”. “A project that is already out there and will now enter its infancy. We are still a long way from what the impact of this investment that Loulé is making with ABC will be”, said the mayor, recalling the political commitment that the Municipality of Loulé is making to the development of Science.
Still in the area of Health, “the first Academic Health Center in the country” will soon be opened in Loulé, said Vítor Aleixo.
All these investments are “a clear political choice by this executive, who understands that the economy of our region cannot continue to be limited to just one activity, which is tourism and real estate activity combined with tourism. The investment in Science, which we are making in the Algarve, and particularly in Loulé, is in fact the great future that lies ahead for our region”, stressed Vítor Aleixo.
