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British tourists rescued in Albufeira
• 01 Mar 2007 •
 TWO English tourists that were trapped on a cliff between the Fishermen and Inatel beaches, in Albufeira, were rescued by the local Voluntary Fire Brigade, assisted by a team of Maritime Police. The British couple were surprised by the high tide and they were trapped in an area of steep cliffs when the 57-year-old woman and the 60-year-old man were trying to cross from one beach into the other. Paulo Afonso, Assistant Commandant of the Albufeira Fire Brigade explained to the Euro Weekly News: “The tourists were crossing from one beach into the next one and apparently they stopped for a while at a small strip of sand in an area of steep cliffs. When they realized that the sea level had gone up and they couldn’t go any further or come back, they tried to climb up the rocks, however it was also impossible. Passers-by heard their calls for help and called the alarm.” Paulo Afonso who is in charge of the rescue team added: “When we arrived on site, we made a first evaluation of the situation and realised that it would be impossible to rescue the tourists with a boat, because the sea was too rough.
The use of the Civil Protection helicopter could also be risky because the wind was quite strong, so we immediately decided that the only way to rescue them would be with the use of ropes and other rock climbing equipment we had to bring the two tourists to safety.” Afonso added that when the rescuers arrived, the two tourists were quite scared with the situation but after explaining to them what would happen next, they climbed down and followed the safety instructions which helped the rescue operation to be successful. Paulo Afonso also explained that they had no difficulty in communicating with the English tourists because the whole team of the local fire brigade has been having English lessons for sometime and now, all of them have learned enough English to be able to speak with the people they are rescuing, even when they are foreigners.
He said: “We have to thank Albufeira’s British expatriate community who have provided most of the teachers who have been helping us to learn English. We are based in a very touristy area and Albufeira has also a large number of foreigners who live permanently here. On several occasions throughout the year we are called to help those people who don’t understand Portuguese. We have become conscious that in an emergency situation it is vital for the rescue team to be able to communicate with the victims.
So we believe that learning English was a great achievement for the members of our fire brigade and it has been, on many occasions, a great help for the success, not only because of our rescue operations, but also when we are called to assist people who have suffered accidents or had serious health problems and have to be carried to hospital by our ambulances.” |  Return to Top
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