Authorities are searching the Guadiana river near Alcoutim for a 72-year-old Dutch sailor who has been missing since Thursday morning.
The septuagenarian is described as living on a yacht moored on the river.
He is understood to have gone to shore in a small rowing boat on Thursday for some shopping, returning a while later.
The bag of shopping was discovered on the yacht deck but the rowing boat was found upside down in the water on Thursday afternoon, leading friends and authorities to fear the worst.
Said Rui Andrade, ports commander for Vila Real de Santo António and Tavira, “everything point to the man having fallen into the water”.
Searches were reinforced on Friday, but as Andrade explained, the river is affected by the currents of the sea. A body or object in the water, if it isn’t held fast has “free movement”, which means “it isn’t possible to predict where it could be”.
