The Algarve Report Wednesday 28 August 2024
By Mike Evans
A very good day to you all, whether seeing this for the first time or a regular viewer. The aim of this report is to highlight some of the stories you may have missed during the past week or so and to give valuable information regarding safety and security when incidents occur. The big talking point across the whole country these past few days is the earthquake tremor that occurred around 60 kilometres off the coast near Sines and was 5.3 on the Richter scale with up to 6 further aftershocks being reported. Luckily whilst many may have felt the tremor there was no damage reported but the size of this tremor has illustrated the fact that Portugal is prone to these seismic shocks and people should be aware of what to do if in fact a similar or larger shock happened on the mainland.
We at Safe Communities Portugal have published a lot of information regarding what to do in such a case both on our Facebook pages and on our website and I would encourage you all to check out what we have published.
Now a look at some of the other stories that have hit the headlines in the past week.
Faro City Council inaugurates video surveillance system in the city
Faro City Council inaugurated this Tuesday, the 27th, a video surveillance system to prevent crimes and repress traffic violations on the main roads and in several points in the city centre, the municipality announced.
The inauguration ceremony for the video surveillance system will take place at 11:00 am, at the facilities of the Faro Public Security Police District Command, which will be responsible for operating the 32 cameras that the municipality has installed in the areas with the highest levels of people and traffic in the city.
The ceremony will be attended by the Mayor of Faro, Rogério Bacalhau, and the Secretary of State for Internal Administration, Telmo Correia, the Algarve municipality highlighted in a statement. On April 5, 2023, Faro City Council announced that it had been awarded the contract for the installation of 32 cameras, of four different types, under an investment of more than 550,000 euros.
Among the works planned in the project were the expansion of the fibre optic network and the preparation of support infrastructures for the installation of the system in “key locations”, namely in the commercial area, on the main road axes and in the city centre, the municipality specified at the time.
With the inauguration of this video surveillance system, the municipality and the PSP will be able to monitor public and private property, “prevent crimes in places where there is a reasonable risk of them occurring” and, simultaneously, prevent and repress road traffic violations, he highlighted.
The system is capable of capturing and recording audio “whenever there is a situation of concrete danger to the safety of people and property” and the cameras will be operated by the Public Security Police (PSP), working continuously 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the Algarve local authority explained.
Woman seriously injured after falling from cliff in Portimão
A 49-year-old French woman was seriously injured on Sunday, the 25th, after falling from a cliff approximately 15 metres high, in Portimão, said a source from the Maritime Authority.
According to the Captain of the Port of Portimão, Eduardo Pousadas Godinho, the fall occurred near the submarine beach, in the João de Arens area, in the municipality of Portimão, “in a difficult to access location, making it necessary to rescue the woman from the sea”.
“The woman, who appeared to have several fractures, was stabilised by a wide-angle team from the Portimão fire department and removed by sea, being transferred to the Portimão marina and transported by helicopter to a hospital unit” in the Algarve, he said. According to Eduardo Pousadas Godinho, “at the site of the fall and in the access areas there are signs warning of the instability of the cliffs, and the causes that led to the fall of the French citizen are unknown”.
“It is an area with a large influx of tourists, mainly foreign citizens, but it is properly marked, with warnings about the instability of the cliffs, but people continue to ignore these warnings”, he highlighted.
According to the Captain of the Port of Portimão, the maritime authorities “have been insisting a lot” with the consular attachés of the various countries “to warn their citizens who are tourists in the Algarve of the dangers that exist in various areas of the coast”.
“We have been concerned about raising awareness of the risks in areas such as João de Arens (Portimão), Benagil and Sete Vales ( Lagoa ), but tourists venture out on isolated walks and accidents end up happening,” he said.
The rescue operations involved 18 operatives from the Portimão fire department, the Maritime Police, the Institute for Aid to Shipwrecked People and the National Institute for Medical Emergencies, assisted by five vehicles and a total of three vessels.
Collision between car and bicycle leaves one dead in Aljezur
A woman died on Sunday, the 25th, as a result of a collision between a light vehicle and a bicycle that occurred on the National Road (EN) 120, in the Azenha area, in the municipality of Aljezur, revealed a source from Civil Protection .
According to a source from the Algarve Regional Emergency and Civil Protection Command, the accident occurred late in the morning and forced the interruption of road traffic on that road that connects the Algarve to Alentejo, which has since been reopened to traffic.
The source indicated that the death of the 42-year-old woman, of Portuguese nationality, was declared by the doctor of the helicopter from the National Institute of Medical Emergency ( INEM ), called to the scene of the accident. According to the source, the causes of the collision between the two vehicles “are unknown and are being investigated”by the Traffic Accident Criminal Investigation Unit (NICAV) of the National Republican Guard (GNR). The assistance and rescue operations involved around 15 members of the Aljezur Volunteer Firefighters, INEM and GNR.
Suspect arrested for forgery, aggravated fraud and money laundering
A man suspected of several crimes of aggravated document forgery, qualified fraud and money laundering was arrested on Wednesday in Lisbon by the Southern Directorate of the Judicial Police and will be held in preventive custody, it was announced on Thursday.
In a statement, the Judicial Police (PJ) indicated that the detainee, aged 27, is suspected of being part of a group “whose transnational criminal activity” consisted of setting up companies using several false identities, “in whose name he opened dozens of accounts in credit institutions” in Portugal. “Once opened, the accounts were credited with transfers of large amounts, obtained illegally, namely using schemes commonly known as ‘man in the middle’ or ‘CEO fraud’,” the police specified.
The ‘man-in-the-middle’ system is a form of cyberattack in which data exchanged between two parties is intercepted, recorded and altered without the victims being aware.
‘CEO fraud’ is a form of fraud through the sending of emails, text messages or applications, in which the attacker, by pretending to be an entity related to the targeted organisation, makes requests for money transfers to employees of that organisation, to their bank accounts.
According to the PJ, the detainee “after disguising the illicit origin of the funds received”, transferred the sums to other accounts, “giving them an appearance of legality under the guise of the alleged activity of the companies then created, receiving a percentage of the transactions carried out”.
During the investigation launched by the Southern Directorate of the PJ, “significant evidence was seized”, highlights the criminal police. According to the PJ, the arrest occurred following an investigation led by the Criminal Investigation Department ( DIAP ) of Faro , which also resulted in the arrest of another man in December 2023. The man now detained in the Lisbon region was heard in his first judicial interrogation, and was ordered to be held in preventive detention, the most serious coercive measure, added the PJ.
10 people rescued in one hour in Cacela Velha
Ten people were rescued by maritime rescue services in Cacela Velha, Vila Real de Santo António in just one hour on Wednesday afternoon (August 23). The rescues took place between 3pm and 4pm during high tide when the group was spotted in distress after being swept away by strong currents near the Cacela Velha inlet.
Members of the ‘SeaWatch’ project and the Tavira and Vila Real de Santo António lifeboat stations were deployed to rescue the victims as they struggled to cross the Ria Formosa in an unsupervised area. Six of the victims were swiftly rescued by lifeguard crews from the Tavira and Vila Real de Santo António stations, while the remaining four were rescued by ‘SeaWatch’ members. All 10 people were safely transported back to land, injury-free and without needing medical assistance.
In a statement to the press, the National Maritime Authority (AMN) stresses that the Cacela Velha inlet is a “dangerous area not recommended for swimming due to the risks posed by strong currents, despite the high number of visitors to the area.” To ensure that rescue services are swift, the AMN has deployed two rescue boats from the Tavira and Vila Real de Santo António stations, an Amarok vehicle from the ‘SeaWatch’ project, a jet ski, a quad bike, and a patrol boat from the maritime police command in Tavira.
To end this report we hear of good news regarding the water shortages across the Algarve. The Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) has issued the Environmental Impact Statement (DIA) for the project “Reinforcement of Water Supply to the Algarve – Solution for the Water Intake in Pomarão”, with a favourable decision subject to compliance with a set of conditions, it was announced this Monday, August 26.
The environmental impact assessment procedure in question was carried out “in accordance with the legally required procedures, including the promotion of a 30-working-day public consultation period”, details the APA in a statement.
The aforementioned decision was supported by the technical opinion issued by the Evaluation Committee set up for this purpose, coordinated by the APA and including representatives from the APA itself and the following entities: Algarve Regional Coordination and Development Commission, Alentejo Regional Coordination and Development Commission, Cultural Heritage Commission, Algarve Regional Health Administration, Alentejo Regional Health Administration, Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests, National Energy and Geology Laboratory and the Prof. Baeta Neves Applied Ecology Centre of the Higher Institute of Agronomy.
The project is part of the ongoing partnership between Portugal and Spain, which will ensure a model for exploiting water intakes that ensures an effective ecological flow regime and the balance of the system.
It is also part of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) 2021-2026 (Component C9. Water Management; investment RE-C09-i01 – Algarve Regional Water Efficiency Plan; sub-measure SM5 – Increase the available capacity and resilience of existing reservoirs/high-water supply systems and reinforce with new water sources).
Given that the environmental impact assessment procedure took place in the preliminary study phase, according to the APA, a second assessment will take place in the execution project phase, with a view to verifying the environmental compliance of the execution project with the DIA now issued.
The APA emphasises that the licensing and implementation of the project may only occur after the issuance of the environmental compliance decision for the execution project (DCAPE).
Until the next time stay safe.