One woman said she ‘thought she was going to die’ after diving into the water on her way back from a sea cave and discovering her life jacket wasn’t working properly.
After taking on water, the vessel with 36 passengers on board, including four children, came dangerously close to sinking.
It was approximately half a mile from the coast near Alfanzina Lighthouse in the Carvoeiro resort when the alert was issued just before 1.30pm today.
After the rescue attempt, dramatic photos showed the boat, which was returning with visitors from a trip to the famous Benagil sea cave, flipped and mostly below water.
According to reliable sources, five British and two Irish nationals were on board at the time.
An investigation into the near-tragedy was launched last night/Monday night.
‘I’m not sure what happened,’ said Troy French of London.
‘I was on the phone with some of my colleagues in England when I noticed a lot of water flowing into the boat behind me.
‘The crew began to worry and began lifting some emergency items up, and water began to enter the engine, which was smoking.
‘They got everyone to move to the front of the boat, and then the back of the boat started sinking, sinking, sinking until everyone just started jumping into the water.
‘A lot of people’s lifejackets were failing and didn’t activate when they went into the water.
‘That was a truly awful and terrifying experience.
‘It was about three minutes from the time water started coming into the boat and we started sinking, and another five to ten minutes before boats started arriving and another five to ten minutes before people started being rescued.
‘Even after we were rescued, it probably took another 10 to 15 minutes for everyone to be carried to safety.
‘I’m a confident swimmer, but I was swallowing water and fearing for individuals whose lifejackets weren’t working properly. I’m simply relieved that everyone got out safely.’
‘I thought I was going to die,’ Troy’s non-swimmer buddy Lila Evangelista, also from London, said.
‘At first, the water was not very high, and I was calm, but then it began to rise very quickly, and I began to fear.
‘The coastguards arrived a little late, when everyone was already on the huge boat, which scooped up the majority of those who ended up in the sea,’ said one witness.
‘An alert was received around 1:25 pm local time today/yesterday (MON), via the Lisbon Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre, reporting that a tourist craft with roughly 40 people on board was taking on water and was at risk of sinking,’ said a spokeswoman for Portugal’s National Maritime Authority.
‘Members of the Portimao Maritime Police and the Ferragudo Lifeguard Station were quickly dispatched to the scene. Many additional tourist ships also arrived in the region.
‘The people on the boat were all in the water with their life jackets on when they arrived.
‘They were rescued with the assistance of a neighboring tourist boat and the Ferragudo Lifeguard Station boat.
‘A total of 36 people on board, including four children, were then brought to Portimao Marina, where paramedics, Portimao volunteer firefighters, Lagoa volunteer firefighters, Civil Protection police, and the Portuguese Red Cross awaited.’
‘Some were showing signs of hypothermia, and they were evaluated and assisted by the medical professionals on the site, even though they did not require specific medical care,’ it said in a statement.
The damaged vessel was eventually dismantled and transported to a shipyard in Portimao by a company hired by the shipowner.’
Most of the passengers were identified as ‘foreign tourists’. Holidaymakers from Canada, France, Switzerland, Belgium, and South Korea joined the British and Irish.
There has been no word on the likely reason of the tragedy.
»British tourists recall how they cheated death after their tourist boat capsized off the Algarve«
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