Azores Situation Report Wednesday 3rd April 2024

The search for the missing diver in the sea off Terceira Island resumed on Monday.

The search resumed on Monday afternoon for the diver who has been missing at sea, on the island of Terceira, since March 30th.

According to a statement from the National Maritime Authority, “the search for the diver who has been missing since March 30th, near the Fradinhos islets, on Terceira Island, will resume in the early afternoon of today, April 1st, as soon as conditions meteorological and oceanographic data allow it”.

In the search operations, coordinated by the Port Captain and local Commander of the Maritime Police of Praia da Vitória and Angra do Heroísmo, crew members from the “Lifeguard Station of Praia da Vitória and Angra do Heroísmo and elements of the local Command of the Praia da Vitória Maritime Police, supported by a vessel, as well as a group of voluntary amateur divers from the island’s nautical clubs”.

The AMN press release states that the “Maritime Police Psychology office has been activated and is providing support to the victim’s family and friends”.

“According to what was possible to ascertain, the 43-year-old man was practicing diving and did not return to land”, concludes the AMN note.

Earthquake measuring 2.7 on the Richter scale felt on Terceira Island.

An earthquake measuring 2.7 on the Richter scale, with an epicentre about four kilometres east of Serreta, on the island of Terceira, was felt on the 31^{st of} March at 12:29 (13:29 Lisbon), according to IPMA.

The Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) informs that the event did not cause personal or material damage and was felt with the maximum intensity of III/IV on the modified Mercalli scale, in the parish of Raminho, in Terceira.

According to the Richter scale, earthquakes are classified according to their magnitude as micro (less than 2.0), very small (2.0-2.9), small (3.0-3.9), slight (4 ,0-4.9), moderate (5.0-5.9), strong (6.0-6.9), large (7.0-7.9), important (8.0-8.9 ), exceptional (9.0-9.9) and extreme (when higher than 10).

The Modified Mercalli scale measures “degrees of intensity and respective description”.

With intensity III, considered weak, the shock is felt inside the house and hanging objects swing, perceiving a “vibration similar to that caused by the passage of heavy vehicles”, reveals the IPMA on its website.

 

Azores Situation Report Wednesday 27th March 2024

Three crew members from a sailing boat rescued off the Azores.

The Portuguese Navy rescued three crew members from a Dutch-flagged sailboat, which was adrift 771 nautical miles south of the island of Santa Maria.

According to a statement from the Portuguese Navy, through the Ponta Delgada Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre, “the rescue of three crew members of the sailing ship ‘Norwegian Queen’, flying the flag of the Netherlands, was carried out over the weekend, which was found itself adrift, due to breakdown, four days ago, 771 nautical miles, approximately 1430 kilometres, south of the island of Santa Maria”.

It was the crew who contacted the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Madrid, which passed the case on to the Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre in Ponta Delgada.

The Navy reports that two merchant ships were sent to the location and the three crew members were rescued by the ship “Stena Carron”, on Sunday, at 2:07 pm.

According to the Navy, the crew members “were in good health and are now on board the ship that rescued them, which continues its journey to Guyana, in South America”.

Arrested suspected of murder of foreign citizen on the island of Faial.

On Monday 25^th March , the Judiciary Police, through the Azores Criminal Investigation Department, arrested the alleged murderer of a 49-year-old Cape Verdean citizen, who died following a physical attack at a nightclub in the city of Horta, Faial island, in the early hours of Sunday.

According to a statement from the Judiciary Police, the crime occurred in the context of a “violent argument involving several people, during which the now detained person, an employee of that establishment, allegedly punched the victim, a 49-year-old man, leaving him the unconscious.”

The victim was rescued and transported to Horta Hospital, “where death was declared at 5:30 pm on Monday”.

The PJ also says that the 23-year-old detainee will be brought before the judicial authorities to apply coercive measures.

Search ends for Indonesian crew member off the island of São Miguel

On Sunday, the Portuguese Navy ended the search for the Indonesian crew member off the island of São Miguel who fell into the sea last Friday.

According to a statement, the Portuguese Navy said that through the Ponta Delgada Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC Delgada), it conducted a search and rescue action for an Indonesian crew member of the fishing vessel ‘Garcia Miguel’, who fell into the sea while fishing was underway, approximately 345 miles, the equivalent of 639 kilometres northeast of the island of São Miguel.

The corvette António Enes, sent by the Portuguese Navy, began a search and rescue action at 1:18 pm on Friday.

For 41 hours, even with “adverse weather conditions that were felt at the location”, the vessel moved to the area of ​​operations, with the ship carrying out “searches in the area in addition to the search effort carried out by other merchant ships, under coordination of MRCC Delgada”, indicated the Navy in a statement.

The corvette António Enes remained at the location in search actions for 14 hours longer than the limit for survival of human life at sea, depending on the temperature of the sea water at the location and the environmental conditions observed.

The search for the man ended at 1pm on Sunday, when it was considered “totally impossible” to find the injured crew member alive.

However, the Navy indicates that the warning to navigation will remain in force, alerting all ships and vessels crossing the area to remain alert and report any sightings to the MRCC Delgada.

In addition to the Portuguese Navy, the fishing vessels “Miguel Garcia” and “Estrela de Ancora”, the merchant ships “NIGJING HAI”, “Monte Brasil”, “Euronike”, “OOCL GUANG ZHOU”, “Caribbean Loyalty” were involved in the searches. , “New Haven”, as well as the Navy and Air Force assets on a mission in the Autonomous Region of the Azores, respectively, the NRP António Enes and a C-295 aircraft, from the Portuguese Air Force.

In total, ten units were committed, and searches were carried out in an area of ​​1600 square nautical miles, approximately 5487 square kilometers.

 

Azores Situation Report Wednesday 20th March 2024

Plane bound for Colombia lands at Ponta Delgada airport due to medical emergency.

A plane from the airline Avianca, which was connecting Madrid (Spain) and Medellín (Colombia), landed in Ponta Delgada, island and São Miguel, due to a medical emergency that affected a passenger, company sources have said.

Flight AV17 was approximately six hours and forty minutes from its destination when it turned back and made an emergency landing on the island of São Miguel, so that the passenger could be assisted.

Avianca sources confirmed to the Efe agency that the diversion and landing were due to a medical emergency and had nothing to do with technical issues.

According to the same source, the pilot requested authorization to land ‘in the middle’ of the route, four hours after take-off in the Spanish capital, at 3 pm local time.

The Boeing 787 landed safely after quick authorization from the control tower at João Paulo II Airport, in Ponta Delgada.

Between 2018 and 2019, two Avianca planes had to make emergency landings in the Azores due to an alert in the electrical system and another medical emergency.

Ponta Delgada Hospital can now remotely monitor cardiology patients.

The Hospital do Divino Espírito Santo (HDES), in Ponta Delgada, now has technology that allows it to remotely monitor cardiology patients, revealed the institution, highlighting the importance of this innovation for users of islands without a hospital.

The ‘HeartLogic’ and ‘Heart Connect System’ tools, developed by Boston Scientific, allow remote monitoring of patients with heart failure and those with implantable cardiac devices (‘pacemaker’).

“This technology is particularly useful in an archipelagic like the Azores, where there are islands with only health centres without the possibility of face-to-face consultation following this type of surgery”, said cardiologist from the HDES arrhythmology department André Monteiro.

According to the clinician, with this technology travelling from one Island to another can be avoided. if the problem can be solved by remote counselling or hospital transfer can be quickly arranged, if something is identified that can only be resolved elsewhere.

‘HeartLogic’ technology enables continuous remote monitoring of patients with heart failure.

According to the hospital, by using physiological sensors in cardiac devices, this algorithm identifies patients at risk of cardiac decompensation and allows intervention by the medical team following the patient, in order to avoid hospitalization for heart failure, which is a recognized causes of increased mortality in the population.

PJ investigates attack on Cape Verdean citizen in the city of Horta.

The Judiciary Police are investigating an attack that occurred in the early hours of Sunday, next to a nightclub, in the city of Horta, on the island of Faial, against a man from Cape Verde, who is in a medically induced coma.

According to a police source, the man, around 50 years old, who works in the construction industry, was attacked outside a nightclub in circumstances still to be determined.

The Public Security Police (PSP) took charge of the incident, identified the people involved and forwarded the case to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which has already requested the participation of the Judiciary Police, which is investigating the case, but has not yet detained the suspect, he said. PSP font.

After the attack, the Faial Volunteer Firefighters were called to the scene and transported the victim to Horta Hospital, which even considered sending her to another health unit given the seriousness of her clinical condition.

According to a hospital source, medical evacuation did not occur, given the “reserved clinical condition” of the victim, who remains hospitalized at Hospital da Horta, in an induced coma.

Meanwhile, on social media, publications in support of the Cape Verdean citizen, who some consider having been a victim of “racial hatred”, are already multiplying, so much so that a vigil and demonstration are already scheduled for Tuesday, at 6pm. anti-racist protest in front of the Horta City Council building.

 

Azores Situation Report Wednesday 13th March 2024

Body of man found submerged near Porto dos Carneiros on the island of São Miguel

The body of a man was found today in the water trapped in the rocks near Porto dos Carneiros, in the municipality of Lagoa, on the island of São Miguel, in the Azores, the National Maritime Authority (AMN) announced.

According to AMN, the alert for the occurrence, whose causes are unknown, was given at 09:35 local time (10:35 in Lisbon), to the Lisbon Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC Lisbon), by a fisherman submarine that detected a submerged body.

Following the alert, “the crew from the Ponta Delgada Lifeguard Station and a team of divers from the Ponta Delgada Volunteer Fire Department were immediately called to the scene”.

The source said in a statement that the team of divers collected the body, which was transported on the boat from the Lifeguard Station to Ponta Delgada, “where death was declared by the Health Delegate”.

“The body was later transported by the Ponta Delgada Volunteer Firefighters to the Divino Espírito Santo Hospital,” he added.

There were also members of the local Command of the Ponta Delgada Maritime Police, the entity that took charge of the incident, and the Public Security Police (PSP) at the scene.

Reading of double homicide sentence postponed for the second time.

The reading of the ruling in the case involving a man accused of double homicide, in the Azores, was postponed again today by the Court of São Roque do Pico, which scheduled a new session for Thursday.

The judge who is judging the case, only announced that she had “rejected” the request presented last week by the defence lawyer, in relation to the additional penalty that the court intended to apply to the 61-year-old defendant, accused of having killed two men and burning the bodies next to his residence, in the parish of Candelária, municipality of Madalena do Pico.

The court intended to apply an additional penalty to the suspect and also to his wife, accused of desecrating corpses and possession of a prohibited weapon, of “expulsion from the country”, after serving a prison sentence, a decision that was contested by the suspects’ lawyer .

The reading of the ruling, which was scheduled for last week, was postponed again today for another three days, now so that the court can consider the appeal for rejection.

The defendant in the case, a German national, is suspected of, in September 2022, having killed two men and burning their bodies, when they were visiting some land that they intended to buy, around their house, in Campo Raso, in an area where there are few dwellings.

The detainee, who initially pleaded guilty, later changed his statement, arguing that he had been pressured by the police authorities, now declaring himself innocent of the crimes of qualified homicide, desecration of corpses and possession of a prohibited weapon.

At the time the suspects were arrested, the Judiciary Police announced that “evidence had been collected” that the two missing men had been victims of “murder crimes, with subsequent concealment of the bodies”, with suspicion falling on an individual of foreign nationality, residing in the vicinity of the place where the vehicle used by the victims was parked.

According to that police, during the house searches of the suspect’s residence, “two legal firearms were seized, in addition to several illegally located weapons, namely, a ‘box cutter’ with an attached blade, several daggers and a silencer, compatible with a firearm”.

Preventive arrest for suspect in jewellery theft in São Miguel

A man was held in pre-trial detention on suspicion of stealing watch and jewellery items, valued at more than 10 thousand euros, from a residence in Calhetas, in São Miguel, Azores.

According to the Regional Command of the Public Security Police of the Azores, the 22-year-old suspect was arrested on March 8, after going on the run shortly after the robbery, but several members of the public managed to intercept the man, who ” was later handed over to the PSP”.

The man was accused of the theft of watch and jewellery items, inside a residence, in the parish of Calhetas, in Rabo de Peixe, municipality of Ribeira Grande, on the island of São Miguel, the police reported, revealing that “three watches were recovered and 14 pieces of jewellery (earrings, bracelets, rings and necklaces), with a total value of 10,000 euros”.

The same source said that, after being present at the first judicial interrogation, the man saw the most serious measure of coercion applied, preventive detention.