Death of man in Alqueva after balloon ride shrouded in mystery | Alqueva

A 55-year-old man was found lifeless this Sunday in the waters of the Alqueva dam, in the municipality of Mourão, after taking part in a hot air balloon ride, a source from the Territorial Command of the Republican National Guard (GNR) of Évora.

According to the GNR, the man, of Portuguese nationality, asked to interrupt the trip on the hot air balloon, which had started in Monsaraz, 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. Authorities do not yet know how the victim ended up in the water and what was the cause of death.

The same source added that the Judicial Police was contacted to investigate the circumstances of the death.

The fatal victim’s girlfriend, Alexandra Santos, presented a different version of events to the Lusa agency. According to her, the balloon was preparing to land on the shore when, due to the wind, it changed direction. “The balloon started to tilt towards the water, because of the winds, and, at the speed we were going, the pilot didn’t have a chance either and we hit the water, but very close to the shore. We all got wet feet”, she reported.

However, continued Alexandra Santos, the aerial vehicle “continued to move” towards the interior of the reservoir, and the pilot then suggested that some passengers “go outside to pull the basket to land”. The man, who ended up dying, then entered the water, “the balloon rose” and “hit the water again”, for the second time, now “further away from the shore”, highlighted this witness. Alexandra Santos added that her boyfriend “had no foot in the area where he stayed”.

Speaking to Lusa, Tiago Ramos, from the Municipal Civil Protection Service of Mourão, limited himself to saying that the firefighters, when they arrived at the scene, found the body next to the banks of the reservoir. The tourist trip, he added, had started in Monsaraz, in the neighboring municipality of Reguengos de Monsaraz.

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 assured that they had received a call to help a person who had fallen from a hot air balloon towards the dam.

To Lusa, the commander of the Mourão Fire Department, Fábio Quintas, said that the victim “was in cardiorespiratory arrest” when the corporation’s operatives removed him from the water.

There were seven vehicles and a boat at the scene, with 18 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. with Lusa

News corrected at 1:45 pm with the facts presented by the GNR and contextualization of the version presented by Civil Protection.

News updated at 11pm with the version of the fatal victim’s girlfriend