A 55-year-old man was found lifeless this Sunday in the waters of the Alqueva dam, in the municipality of Mourão, after having interrupted a hot air balloon ride, a source from the Territorial Command of the National Republican Guard (GNR) of Évora.
According to the GNR, the man of Portuguese nationality asked to interrupt the trip in the hot air balloon when it was already in the air. The balloonist landed the balloon so the victim could get out and resumed the flight, contacting the support team for these tours, who are always on the ground “in case of any eventuality”. When the support team arrived at the scene, they found the man lifeless in the water.
The same source added that the Judicial Police was contacted to investigate the circumstances of the death.
The alert for the incident was given at 10:19 am. Initially, it was reported by Civil Protection to the PUBLIC that a person had fallen from the basket of a hot air balloon into the waters of the Alqueva dam. This information was also confirmed by the Mourão Volunteer Firefighters, who confirmed that they had received a call for a person who had fallen from a hot air balloon into the dam.
There were seven vehicles and a boat at the scene, with 14 employees from the Mourão Volunteer Fire Department, GNR, INEM and the Mourão Municipal Service. Death was declared by the doctor from the Emergency and Resuscitation Medical Unit.
News corrected at 1:45 pm with the facts presented by the GNR and contextualization of the version presented by Civil Protection.
