A BRITISH woman who drowned in rough seas in Portugal yesterday was four months pregnant, it’s reported. The 33-year-old’s male friend also died as he tried desperately to save her after she got into difficulty. Police said the 34-year-old man went to into the water when he realised his friend was in trouble. Local surfers […]
A BRITISH woman who drowned in rough seas in Portugal yesterday was four months pregnant, it’s reported.
The 33-year-old’s male friend also died as he tried desperately to save her after she got into difficulty.
Police said the 34-year-old man went to into the water when he realised his friend was in trouble.
Local surfers went to their aid after seeing they struggled to get back to the beach and tried to revive them on the sand.
The tragedy happened around 2.30pm local time yesterday at a beach in Zambujeira do Mar in Portugal’s stunning Alentejo region.
Today respected Portuguese daily Correio da Manha reported the unnamed woman who died was four months pregnant.
It also claimed two friends who were with the Brits on holiday in the area witnessed the drama as it unfolded.
Police confirmed the dead pair were a British man aged 34 and a British woman aged 33 who were on holiday with a group of friends.
Maritime Police chief Rui Pedro Silva Filipe said: “I can confirm they are both British citizens. The man was 34 and the woman was 33.
“They were in Portugal on holiday with a group of friends.
“It appears the man went to the woman’s aid when he saw she was in difficulties and was holding onto a rock.
“He reached her but it was when they were coming back to the beach that they started drowning, maybe because they were tired.
“The local surfers went to their aid and got them out of the water to a small area of sand near the main beach but by that time they had already gone into cardiac arrest.
“Medical responders had already reached the scene and made an unsuccessful attempt to revive them by practising CPR.
“They were taken to a local health centre where they were pronounced dead and their bodies have now been taken to Beja where autopsies will take place probably tomorrow.”
A Portuguese Air Force helicopter took their bodies to a hospital morgue in the nearby city of Beja.
Neither has yet been named.
The British pair have been described in Portuguese press reports as a couple but police sources said they thought they were just friends.
The beach where the tragedy occurred has no lifeguard service after September 15.
Mr Silva Filipe described the sea at the time of the drama as “a little bit rough.”
Local media published footage of the Portuguese Air Force helicopter airlifting the bodies from the beach as other sunbathers looked on.
Zambujeira do Mar hosts an annual five-day music festival called the MEO Sudoeste.
The likes of Madness have played at the festival, which takes place in August.
