Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa saves women from drowning

Опубликованно 23.08.2020 12:39

The 71-year-old president was holidaying at the beach in the country’s southernmost Algarve region, bordering the Atlantic Ocean, to promote tourism when he saw the boat overturn on Saturday.

Footage of the incident shows Mr de Sousa helping to flip the kayak over and keep the two women, wearing life jackets, holding onto the sides.

The president, second from the left. Picture: Radiotelevisão Portuguesa

He emerged from the water into a throng of onlookers, elbow-bumping one of them before putting a face mask on to speak to waiting reporters.

“They were dragged away from another beach to this beach, the boat turned over and they swallowed a lot of water and they couldn’t turn the boat up, nor swim, nor get back onto the boat, the current was very strong,” Mr de Sousa said while drying himself with a towel.

“So, it was possible to push them and help them get away from the current.”

A crowd gathered around him after the incident. Picture: Radiotelevisão Portuguesa

A quick elbow bump for his efforts. Picture: ABC

He said it was “a big scare” for the women.

The footage shows another person in the water with the president and the two kayakers, while a lifeguard on a jet ski also arrived on scene.

2 girls were having issues at a beach in Algarve. The man on the left is the Portuguese President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. He reached out and helped them until the lifeguard arrived. pic.twitter.com/UQJvw1ksOs— S?rgio Costa (@SergioMSCosta) August 15, 2020

“Fortunately, me and another patriot helped them,” Mr de Sousa said.

“To get out the kayak and then come to shore holding onto the kayak, at their age – they are girls – is something hard to do.”

He described the person who helped him as a patriot. Picture: Radiotelevisão Portuguesa

According to English language newspaper Portugal Resident, the president promised in July to visit the Algarve every week of the summer to help the region’s tourism sector struggling as a result of COVID-19.

“We have to look to the future and see how we can turn things around,” Mr de Sousa said at the time.

Fellow beachgoers. Picture: Radiotelevisão Portuguesa

Portugal remains on the UK Government’s travel ban list with British nationals advised against all but essential international travel to the European country.

Around 2.5 million British nationals visited Portugal in 2019.

Visitors this year are required to self-isolate on return to the UK for 14 days.

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