The 63-year-old tourist who was swept away by a wave this afternoon while on the Ponta Delgada pier was taking a photo when she was surprised by the strong waves.
According to a witness, the woman approached to take a portrait together with her husband and they were both dragged. “The man managed to get out of the water by his own means, but the woman was never seen again”, revealed a member of the public.
Search for the body is ongoing, but the strong sea conditions make it very difficult.
The Captain of the Port of Funchal, Rui Teixeira, admits that “there is little that can be done to avoid these risk situations”. “We can carry out more awareness campaigns, but we cannot close the areas next to the sea along the entire coast of the island of Madeira. What we have seen is that people take a lot of risks and frequent dangerous areas given the local sea conditions,” he said, recalling that there have been several tragic episodes essentially on the North coast.