A autopsy on the body of the man who lost his life following a hot air balloon trip, in the Alqueva dam, concluded that his death was due to “drowning with suspected heart attack”. The news was advanced by the Observer and confirmed to the News by the Minute with a source from the Judiciary Police (PJ).
It should be noted that the body of the 55-year-old man remains at the Évora Medical-Legal Office, and the results of histological examinations are still awaited.
Another police source confirmed to the Lusa agency that investigations are continuing with a view to determining any responsibilities for the incident.
It is recalled that the victim was found lifeless, 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, that wasn’t exactly how it all happened. Alexandra Santos said that the victim left the balloon basket into the water after an unplanned ditching at the balloonist’s request, 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.
The circumstances of the death are now being investigated by both the 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”.
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.
[Notícia atualizada às 21h03]
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Tags: Death man balloon resulted drowning suspected heart attack
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