A woman’s body was washed ashore at the Centeanes beach in Carvoeiro recently. The body was spotted by a local fisherman, who failed to retrieve it due to the rough seas. Shortly afterwards, maritime police officers, members of the GNR and the Lagoa bombeiros were called to the location in an attempt to reach the body using a helicopter from the national bombeiros service.
Meanwhile, the sea dragged the body towards Carvoeiro’s cliffs, where it became jammed between rocks. This meant that the police officers were forced to wade up to their necks in water before they could rescue the decomposing body. The authorities revealed that the body might be that of a woman aged between 30 and 40 years old, that she wore black underwear and was headless.
“By the state of the body, I would say that it had been in the sea for over a month,” said Silva Coelho, director of the Maritime Police in Portimão. Two women, a German national from Lagos and a Portuguese teacher and actress, have been reported missing in the Algarve over the last few months. The case has now been transferred to the Polícia Judiciária (PJ) authorities for further investigation.
An autopsy has now been carried out in the Institute of Legal Medicine at the Barlavento Hospital, but the cause of death and identity of the woman concerned are still unclear. There are suspicions that it may be the body of the teacher and theatre actress who disappeared from Lagoa last December while depressed. Relatives of the actress, who went to the hospital, were said to be incapable of carrying out identification – positive or negative – on the body.
It is thought that the body could be identified via DNA testing. But a spokesman explained that the fact that the body had been in the water for such a long time might complicate the process.
