The Ferragudo lifeboat team was called out to rendezvous with a cruise ship off Portimão after a passenger had been taken seriously ill and needed land-based medical care.
The British passenger was taken ashore safely after the Maritime Police had been advised that the Saga Pearl II had requested help at 11:00am on Saturday Nov 17th.
The 75-year-old British passenger was conscious and stable but was suffering from a chronic illness that required specialised medical care.
The cruise ship came to within four kilometres of the coastline at Portimão where it met the waiting lifeboat.
The passenger was taken to the lifeboat station from which he was whisked off to Faro hospital by a Lagoa Bombeiros ambulance team.
Not so lucky was a sailor who lost his life on Sunday morning after his yacht was destroyed after hitting the rocks between Zavial and Furnas beaches, in the Vila do Bispo council area.
According to information from the Maritime Authority, the alert was received at 06:50 and the Captain of the Port of Lagos activated the SR33 lifeboat (pictured) and a jet-ski.
On land, Maritime Police from Lagos tried to get close to the wreck after they spotted the 10 metre yacht, "with great structural damage, sinking, in an area where access by land or by lifeboat was not possible."
The 78-year-old Frenchman's body, "was retrieved from the water by the jet-ski operator and transferred to the SR33 lifeboat, where resuscitation maneuvers were started."
The victim was transported to the lifeboat station in Sagres, "where resuscitation maneuvers were continued by INEM and Bombeiros teams from Vila do Bispo, but without success, and the man was declared dead." There is hope that he was alone on the yacht.
