Divers from the volunteer fire brigades of Moura, Serpa, and Reguengos de Monsaraz recovered the body of 44-year-old Filipe Ramalho from the waters of the Alqueva reservoir at around 11am on Monday.
Ramalho, who was originally from the riverside village of Estrela, and lived in Safara, both in the municipality of Moura, had been at the beach with relatives when he entered the water to retrieve a ball, subsequently disappearing. The alarm was raised at around 4.50pm on Sunday, 23 August.
The first emergency responders to arrive at the scene were members of the Portel Fire Brigade and the GNR. Divers from all three nearby fire brigades were subsequently deployed to join the search operation.
The search was suspended at the end of Sunday afternoon and resumed at around 8am on Monday.
Ramalho was married to the former president of the Union of Parishes of Safara and Santa Aleixo da Restauração, with his disappearance having caused shock and grief in his local community.
His body was taken to the Forensic Medical Office in Évora, where an autopsy will be carried out.
The search operation involved 21 firefighters and GNR officers, supported by 11 vehicles and boats.
The beach is just over a kilometre from the village of Alqueva, which gave its name to Europe’s largest artificial lake. Opened on 4 August 2021, the Blue Flag beach is supervised, with lifeguard services provided between 9am and 7pm. This is the first reported case of a swimmer losing their life at the beach.
Source: LUSA
Photo credit: JN
