Mystery surrounds the man presumed drowned off the west coast beach of Monte Clérigo, near Aljezur, on Wednesday last week.
The man was last seen getting into difficulties in strong current close to rocks.
He is reported to have disappeared under the waves before rescuers could reach him.
Maritime police launched air and sea searches which went ahead on Wednesday and Thursday, but as we went to press these had long since been called off.
“We are still looking in the area,” Lagos’ ports captain Carvalho Pinto assured the Resident, agreeing that the authorities have no idea of the man’s identity.
No one has reported anyone missing from a beach, and the man appears to have gone to Monte Clérigo unaccompanied, as the only person to sound the alert was surfer Tiago Dias.
“I saw him disappear into the water as if he had been pulled from below,” Dias told reporters. “I never saw him come back to the surface. That’s when I got out of the water to call INEM.”
Other beachgoers witnessed the incident and were understandably shocked.
British holidaymaker David Smith said: “He was really swimming with force, but he didn’t seem to be getting anywhere because the current was so strong.”
