Man dies in strange hot air balloon accident in Alqueva – News

The source from the GNR Territorial Command of Évora told the Lusa agency that the 55-year-old man was one of the passengers in a hot air balloon that was on a tourist trip and, because he was unwell, left on the banks of the reservoir. The man was later found dead in that location, said the same source.

According to the GNR source in Évora, the case is being investigated by the PJ.

Contacted by Lusa, a source from the Central Alentejo Sub-Regional Emergency and Civil Protection Command highlighted that the alert for the occurrence was given at 10:19.

Also speaking to Lusa, Tiago Ramos, from the Mourão Municipal Civil Protection Service, limited himself to saying that the firefighters, when they arrived at the scene, found the body next to the banks of the reservoir. Previously, according to this person, the victim’s body had been found by “an employee of the hot air balloon company”. According to Tiago Ramos, from the Mourão Municipal Civil Protection Service, the balloon landed “on the other side of the bank”.

This tourist trip, he added, had started in Monsaraz, in the neighboring municipality of Reguengos de Monsaraz.

The commander of the Mourão Fire Department, Fábio Quintas, told Lusa that the corporation’s operatives when they removed the victim from the water “was in cardiorespiratory arrest”. “The VMER doctor [viatura médica de emergência e reanimação] confirmed the death”, he added.

The first news, however, reported a fall: the man had fallen from the hot air balloon over the Alqueva basin. However, new data pointed to another version of the accident: the victim had felt unwell on board the balloon, which made an emergency landing. The man stayed on land and the balloon continued on its journey with the remaining tourists. But later, when those responsible for the tourist agency returned to the site, they found this man’s body on the bank of the Alqueva.

The case is now being investigated.

Lusa tried to contact the company that owns the hot air balloon, but several attempts proved unsuccessful.

The relief operations mobilized a total of 18 operatives from the Mourão Fire Department, National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM) and GNR.

(News updated at 3:33 pm with information from the Judiciary Police)

*With Lusa