Saturday saw Maritime Police called to two separate cliff falls along Portugal’s wild west coast.
One was to the rescue of a 24-year-old Polish woman who suffered multiple fractures after falling 30 metres from a cliff “close to Cape St Vincent”.
The other was to save a fisherman who had fallen into the sea at Azenhas do Mar (close to Praia da Maças, in the borough of Sintra) and lost consciousness.
While the fisherman was airlifted to hospital by an Air Force helicopter, the Polish casualty fell in an area with “difficult access” and had to be evacuated by boat.
According to Diário de Notícias, the young woman had been practising ‘escalada’ when “one of the safety cords failed, and the others could not take her weight”.
Tabloid Correio da Manhã suggests what failed was one of the rings set into rocks at Foz dos Fornos – a location popular with climbers and climbing holiday operators.
The injured woman was stabilised at the scene by INEM rescue staff and then transferred by lifeboat rescue to Sagres before onward transfer to hospital.
IMAGE: the various climbing lines at Foz dos Fornos
