A Portuguese Air Force search and rescue helicopter, as well as various Navy and Naufragos Institute (ISN) resources, are already off Sagres searching to find the Cessna plane and its pilot, who is morning they crashed and disappeared about two miles south of the port of Baleeira.
There are also searches taking place on land, along the cliffs, by elements of the Maritime Police.
For now, in addition to pieces of the fuselage, only "part of the engine" of the plane was discovered, debris that confirmed the occurrence of the accident. «Not yet found the cockpit. The searches are focused on finding the missing crew member," he told the Sul Informação the Captain of the Port of Lagos Carvalho Pinto.
The same official added that "a lifeboat from the ISN's Sagres Station, a Maritime Police vessel, a Portuguese Navy boat and the Air Force search and rescue helicopter" are involved in the search, an EH-101 Merlin .
“A Portuguese Navy search and rescue vessel and another Maritime Police vessel are also on the way,” he revealed.
According to the Air Force, the boats involved in the operations are "a helicopter EH-101 Merlin of the Portuguese Air Force, the NRP Centauro and the lifeboat Diligente of the Navy, as well as a semi-rigid vessel of the Maritime Police and the NRP Jacinto Cândido vessel" .
The warning that a plane had crashed was given by a fishing vessel that was shrouded in dense fog.
According to the crew of this vessel, the plane was at low altitude and ended up hitting the water.
Even so, Carvalho Pinto says he doesn't know if the weather conditions contributed to the accident or were the cause of it.
The plane that crashed into the sea, a Cessna 152 (two seats), departed the Municipal Aerodrome of Portimão, between 10:00 and 10:15, and crashed around 11:74, off Sagres. Only the pilot followed, a XNUMX-year-old man from Mexilhoeira Grande, in Portimão, an emigrant in Canada.
The plane crashed in a place with a depth between 20 and 30 meters.
Photos: Armindo Vincent
Comments