A fishing trip turned sour last Tuesday for three unlucky men, when the boat they were on sank off the coast of Lagos. The trio, from Portimão, raised the alarm at around 5am, after a sudden change in the weather caused large waves to batter the vessel. The ironically named Destroyer finally went under, half an hour later, leaving the panic-stricken anglers clinging to a buoy.
However, two hours afterwards, which must have seemed like an eternity, they were rescued by the Rainha D. Amélia lifeboat.
The owner of Destroyer, 56-year-old António Baptista said, “I had never seen anything like it. The weather changed so quickly”, adding that “the sea just became agitated”. Baptista purchased the boat only a few months ago and decided with his friends, Luís and Paulo, to embark on an impromptu fishing trip, as the weather seemed so pleasant. “We called 112 (the Portuguese emergency services), gave them our location and jumped into the water wearing our life jackets and hung on to the buoy, while the boat quickly sank,” recounted Baptista.
According to António Baptista, the rescue was slightly “complicated, but the people who came were extraordinary.” The three relieved anglers were taken to Barlavento hospital, as a precaution, and were later released with a clean bill of health.
