A tourist survived a 30 metre fall from a cliff in Portimão. The Maritime police and the lifeguard service quickly rescued the Spaniard despite poor access.
The woman fell down the cliff onto ‘submarine’ beach and the alert was raised by passers by.
The Ferragudo lifeboat service was scrambled as was a Maritime Police unit, with the fire and ambulance services on also attending.
The alert was received at 16:35 hours on Wednesday September 7th. The lifeboat the first to arrive, followed by the Maritime Police by land.
The 40-year-old victim had been walking along the cliff top when she fell and is recovering in Portimão's Barlavento hospital.
The next day, two Spanish holidaymakers died at Praia do Amado near Aljezur in suddenly poor sea conditions
Lagos Ports captain Pedro Carvalho Pinto said that a lifeguard had tried to reach them on his surfboard, but couldn’t get to them.
The man and woman, aged 47 and 50, eventually were dragged to shore by surfers but despite ambulance and fire service personnel being by now on hand, the pair were declared dead at the scene.
Then on Friday evening, a tourist fell onto the rocks below the sea defences at Farol in the Ria Formosa and broke his leg.
The Lisbon resident was on holiday on the island but ended up in Faro hospital after falling two metres.
He admitted to using his mobile phone to take photographs when he simply walked off the wide concrete roadway that leads to the lighthouse.
The man was rescued from the rocks by the Olhão lifeboat service and a local Red Cross team.
"This was a complex operation, not only due to the difficult access but also because the victim had an exposed fracture of the tibia," said the commander of Olhão port who added that this was the fifth time this year this type of accident had happened, but that this was the worst.
