UPDATE: Four people who died after shipwreck off the coast of Lisbon in Portugal were ‘warned’ not to set sail

UPDATE: Saturday, November 4 at 11:58 pm

THE four people who died after their boat capsized off the coast of the Torres Vedras district of Lisbon on Friday, were reportedly warned not to go out to sea in such adverse weather conditions.

According to cmjornal.pt, they were strongly advised not to set sail by a couple of sailors who also had their boat in the Peniche marina that they sailed out of. They ignored the warning only to tragically perish a few hours later.

It is believed that the four people had arrived in the marina on November 1 and intended to head south, towards Cascais or Lisbon.

‘We said little, they just asked us where the supermarket was and then we alerted them. We couldn’t tell if they had been doing these trips for many years and if they had experience’, revealed Paula Nunes and Nicolas Gibault.

On hearing of the fatal outcome of the sailing trip, the couple said they regretted the decision made by the four people, who: ‘had made the decision to leave, something we could not prevent. We were shocked’.

‘We told them the day before that there were no safety conditions. There were rough seas and very high waves, but they decided to leave in the morning’, added the couple, who are said to be waiting in Peniche with their sailboat for more favourable weather.

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Saturday, November 4 at 4.22 pm

FOUR people have died after being washed ashore in the Torres Vedras district of Lisbon this Friday, November 3.

According to Commander José Sousa Luís, a spokesperson for the Portuguese Navy, the two men and two women were the crew of a sailboat that capsized in the rough sea. Three of them were allegedly already in cardiorespiratory arrest when they were found on Formosa Beach.

‘The four castaways who washed ashore did not have vests and were being assisted’, he informed the Lusa agency at the time. However, he later confirmed at around 1 pm that: ‘The deaths were declared on site’, reported observador.pt.

Where is the boat believed to have sunk?

The Navy source explained that the Danish-flagged sailboat had left the Peniche marina this morning with four people – believed to be foreign nationals – on board. It subsequently sank around 1,000 metres off Formosa beach in the Santa Cruz area of Lisbon.

‘The alert for the accident was given at 11:08 am, and a lifeboat from Peniche and an Air Force helicopter were mobilised to the scene’, José Sousa Luís added.

A statement released by the National Maritime Authority read: ‘Upon arrival at the scene, it was found that some wreckage, allegedly from the vessel, and four castaways, two male and two female, had washed ashore, all without life jackets and in cardiorespiratory arrest’.

‘Members of the Torres Vedras Volunteer Fire Department immediately began resuscitation manoeuvres’, it added.

Searches were initiated in case of more missing crew members.

Searches were immediately launched for any other missing crew members after three of the four were initially discovered. These were coordinated on site by the Port Captain and local commander of the Peniche Maritime Police. A fourth body was found on Praia Azul later on Friday afternoon.

The Portuguese coastline has been under red, orange and yellow weather alerts due to the passage of the front associated with Storm Ciarán. It caused waves  of between eight and 10 metres in height, with some reported to have been as big as 14 metres.

Portugal is now bracing itself for Storm Domingos which is due to arrive in the territory this weekend, predicted to bring similar maritime unrest.