Meteorologia

  • 31 OCTOBER 2024
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Hot air balloon company says there was "no accident" in Alqueva

The company that owns the hot-air balloon in which the man who ended up dying on the banks of the Alqueva reservoir, in the municipality of Mourão (Évora), was flying today considered that it "was not an accident" aeronautical.

Hot air balloon company says there was "no accident" in Alqueva
Notícias ao Minuto

15:03 - 29/04/24 por Lusa

País Alqueva

"Legally, it was not a balloon accident", argued to Lusa Guido Santos, operations director and one of the pilots of the company Passageiros do Vento, which owns the balloon and the brand Windpassenger.

One of the passengers of a hot air balloon that was taking a tourist tour in the Alqueva area was found dead on Sunday morning on the banks of the reservoir, after leaving the aircraft.

Contacted today by Lusa, the company's operations director argued that a person "stops being a passenger when they voluntarily leave the balloon", arguing that this was what happened in this case.

"This does not mean that the company cannot have civil liability, but at the aeronautical level, there was no accident", he stressed.

According to Guido Santos, the company has four different insurances for hot air balloon tourist tours.

"If there are any liabilities, these insurances will be triggered, but in any case, we will inform the insurer, just to be cautious", he said.

The official declined to make any further statements about what happened, referring any further clarifications from the company to after the autopsy results are known.

"We cannot reach any conclusions before we know the results of the autopsy. We have to understand what the cause of death was", he said.

The operations director of Passageiros do Vento added that the company regrets what happened and offers its condolences to the family.

The circumstances of the death of the man, 55, are being investigated by the Judiciary Police.

On Sunday, in statements to Lusa, the girlfriend of the man who ended up dying, Alexandra Santos, who was with him on the tourist tour, said that this passenger had left the hot air balloon basket for the water after a landing.

"The balloon started to lean towards the water, because of the winds, and at the speed we were going, the pilot had no chance either and we hit the water, but very close to the shore. We all got our feet wet", she reported.

However, Alexandra Santos continued, the aircraft "continued to move" towards the inner area of the reservoir, and the pilot then suggested that some passengers "go outside to pull the basket ashore".

The man, who would end up dying, then entered the water, "the balloon rose" and "hit the water again", for the second time, now "further away from the shore", said this witness.

"Nobody saw him standing, but he was close to the shore when we last saw him", she said, indicating that the hot air balloon then landed in an olive grove.

This tourist trip had started in the Monsaraz area, in the neighbouring municipality of Reguengos de Monsaraz, also in the district of Évora.

Read Also: MP opens inquiry into the death of a man during a balloon ride in Alqueva (Portuguese version)

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