UA 55-year-old man was found dead, on Sunday, in the waters of the Alqueva Dam, in the municipality of Mourão, in Évora, after taking part in a hot air balloon ride.
The first information showed that the man had felt unwell shortly after starting the journey, in Monsaraz, in the neighboring municipality of Reguengos de Monsaraz, and asked to get off the balloon. Already on the ground, and despite being assisted by a company support team, he ended up dying.
However, according to several witnesses, including the man’s girlfriend, Alexandra Santos, that wasn’t exactly how it all happened. The victim must have left the balloon basket into the water after an unplanned landing at the request of the balloonist, as well as two or three other men who were making the trip, to push the basket to the shore.
“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”, the woman reported to Lusa, adding that 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”.
At that point, the balloon gained altitude and “hit the water again”, for the second time, now “further away from the shore”. The passengers all returned to the basket and the balloon ended up landing in a private olive grove. Although the man did not return to the balloon, his girlfriend was only informed of his death when she was already on her way to meet him.
“No one saw him standing, but he was close to the shore when we last saw him,” the woman said.
His body had been found by a company employee on the banks of the reservoir.
The circumstances of the death are now being investigated by both the Judiciary Police (PJ) and the Public Ministry (MP).
Passageiros do Vento, the company that organized the tour, refuses to consider it an “aeronautical accident” and guarantees that the man left the balloon “voluntarily”. However, he admits that “this does not mean that the company cannot have civil liability”.
Who was the victim?
According to Correio da Manhã, the man was called George. He was from Lisbon and had booked a trip months ago to see the sunrise from a hot air balloon.
George leaves four orphaned children. To this publication, his girlfriend, Alexandra Santos, assured that he died as “a hero”, after having saved “12 people”.
According to Lusa, the alert for the occurrence was given at 10:19 am. Civil Protection revealed that when firefighters arrived at the scene they found the body next to the bank of the reservoir, after being spotted by “an employee of the hot air balloon company”.
The commander of the Mourão Fire Department, Fábio Quintas, told the same news agency that the corporation’s operatives removed the victim from the water and that he “was in cardiorespiratory arrest”. “The VMER doctor [viatura médica de emergência e reanimação] confirmed the death”, he said.
An autopsy on the body will determine the cause of death, but so far no information is known.
Read Also: Man dies after feeling unwell during balloon trip in Alqueva
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Tags: Mans death hot air balloon ride remains shrouded mystery
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