The 26-year-old German tourist who was rescued this morning from a cliff on Machados beach, on the coast of Odemira, suffered serious injuries, including several fractures in his legs and arms, and was transported to the Hospital do Litoral Alentejano. Due to the seriousness of his condition, the man could be transferred to S. José, in Lisbon.
The rescue operation for the man, a hiker who was doing the Rota Vicentina, took several hours, between 22:00 pm yesterday and 4:00 am today, as he fell on a cliff 80 to 100 meters high, in a difficult to access area.
The wounded man was eventually removed by the Odemira Volunteer Firefighters, pulled by an individual cable, in an operation that involved close to 25 elements from the various entities and also civilians, revealed the Captain of the Port of Sines.
Commander José António Gouveia added that, in the rescue of the victim, "two civilian means adapted to these lands" were also used, adding that the stretcher had to be transported "in arms" during part of the route, which was "a very narrow path , almost a trail».
An Air Force helicopter flew over the site, but the mission was aborted due to several factors, including poor visibility.
Marta Cabral, executive director of Rota Vicentina, explained to Sul Informação that the young hiker did not fall onto any of the tracks on that pedestrian route, but rather because he left the marked route, supposedly “to help a fisherman he thought he saw and who was in trouble”.
On their Facebook page, those responsible for the pedestrian route explain that “yesterday a hiker who was on the Rota Vicentina left the trail near Praia dos Machados, to help a fisherman who thought he might be in danger (luckily, everything indicates that he was just in his daily work, which would have been a false alarm), he had a fall and was injured and immobilized».
The man must have fallen between 20:00 and 21:00, at sunset, having broken his cell phone in the fall, preventing him from calling for help. It turned out to be a fisherman, who saw the German hiker's backpack hidden in some bushes and then heard his cries for help, who gave the alarm at 21:42 at night.
"In the midst of his bad luck, he ended up having a little star watching over him, since, in that place, he could have stayed all night without anyone noticing him and I don't know if he would have resisted the multiple injuries he suffered," he added. Marta Cabral.
The Maritime Police, vehicles and operational of the Odemira Volunteer Firefighters, an Immediate Life Support (SIV) vehicle and the GNR were mobilized for the location, according to the CDOS of Beja.
As for the fisherman that the young hiker says he saw disappear on the cliffs, the information was not confirmed by the Maritime Police, which, however, carried out searches last night and today.
Those responsible for Rota Vicentina, despite the fact that the accident did not happen exactly on its tracks, have already visited the injured man in hospital and say that he "is free of danger, but recovery will take time and patience."
“We remember the importance of following the paths marked and our recommendations”, they conclude.
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