Drone causes havoc at Lisbon airport - easyJet flight diverted to Oporto

ryanair13An illegally operated drone forced two flights to abort their landing at Lisbon’s airport, one of which ended up landing in Oporto.

"We confirm that we received information that a number of pilots reported to the Air Traffic Management Authority that there is a drone approaching runway 3, out of sight of the airport. The situation was communicated to the Police," ANA confirmed.

Portugal's Prime Minister to open Olhão's seafood festival

shellfishThe thought of Olhão’s socialist party mayor failing to hang on to the council presidency in the October 1st elections has been enough to secure the support of the Prime Minister who is travelling south to open the city’s annual Seafood Festival on Thursday.

António Costa will inaugurate the 32nd Olhão Seafood Festival on August 10th, accompanied by the Minister of the Sea, Ana Paula Vitorino, and the Secretary of State for Fisheries, José Apolinário.

Can anyone help? I need to make contact with a hero!

surfWere you surfing Dona Ana, Lagos on July 4th?

I was vacationing in Lagos with my family.  We are from Canada.  When we got to Dona Ana  beach the waves were high but my three boys wanted to go in. 

SIRESP emergency communication system 'has not worked for years'

FireGoisThe concerning truth about Portugal’s emergency communications system, SIRESP, is that is has not worked properly since 2010, failing with dramatic results in the Pedrógão Grande fire of June this year in which 64 people perished.

The performance reports drawn up by the SIRESP network's own managers outline a worrying list of failures over the last seven years, failures that are triggered when the system is most needed - during storms, fires NATO summits and papal visits.

ASAE starts to inspect tourist accommodation businesses

alFood and business inspectorate, ASAE, has been visiting Alojamento Local (AL) tourist rental premises after cross-checking them with rental websites.

One such establishment has been suspended for "non-performance of water quality tests and not subjecting distributed water to a disinfection process."

Sudoeste festival marred by drug arrests

marijuanaGNR personnel detained 14 people for drug offences at the Sudoeste festival in Zambujeira do Mar, Odemira which ended on Saturday 5th August.

The GNR Territorial Command in Beja reported that 10 men and 4 women, aged between 17 and 30, were arrested on suspicion of drug dealing during operation 'Meo Sudoeste 2017.'

Algarve's wildlife rescue centre - record number of animals released back to the wild

vultureThe Ria Formosa Wildlife Research and Recovery Center has returned more than 200 animals back to their wild habitats in the last two months

In June and July, RIAS in Olhão, receives 649 animals, an average of 11 animals per day.

Odiaxere, over 100 fire fighters tackle afternoon blaze - motorway closed to traffic

fireOne hundred firefighters tackled a blaze at Odiáxere, Lagos, this afternoon as high temperatures and wind triggered blazes in the western Algarve

According to the Civil Protection service’s website, a fire alert was received at 4:30pm with several teams of fire fighters immediately sent to Farta Vacas, Odiáxere.