A 74-year-old fisherman died on Thursday afternoon after the Princesa do Mira, from Quarteira, floundered and sank two miles south of Faro.
The alert was sent out and received by rescue services which did not locate the men in the water until 4.55pm, nearly three hours later, by which time one crew member had died and the other, a 55-year-old, had already been rescued by a passing French yacht.