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.
Photo by Arenilha TV
