Agora Madeira is the only news source comfirming death at the moment.
The tourist who fell this morning from a cliff of around 200 metres in the area of the Pedra Rija viewpoint, Vereda do Pico do Areeiro, is believed to have lost his balance after leaving the trail to take a photo on a hill. The tourist was a young man, presumably of German origin, who was in the company of three other people.
However, it is not yet possible to determine the condition of the victim, as the area where he fell is steep and covered in vegetation and the rescue team is having difficulty reaching the site. “The teams are already on their way to the site, trying to approach the victim and at the moment we have not been able to provide information on the victim’s condition. The drone team located the victim and work is underway to access the site. We are talking about a site measuring over 200 metres, in a highly complex operation in terms of rope work. There is a great deal of complexity associated with this operation”, stressed Valter Ferreira, deputy commander of the Regional Civil Protection Service.
The alert for this accident was given at 11:38 am, through a call made by a citizen to the emergency line 112. 13 members and 3 vehicles from the Madeiran Volunteer Firefighters (BVM) mountain rescue team were mobilized to the scene, as well as the drone team and the helicopter from the Regional Civil Protection Service. However, the fog made the operation of the latter aircraft impossible.
Meanwhile, in the early afternoon, the operation was reinforced by a team from the PSP, a team from the GNR Special Protection and Rescue Unit and members of the Forest Police Force. In total, around 40 officers will be involved in the operation.
Following this accident, the Institute of Forests and Nature Conservation (IFCN) closed the Vereda do Pico do Areeiro trail.