British man, 41, drowns after getting swept out to sea by strong current on Portuguese beach

A British man has drowned after being swept out to sea by strong currents on a Portuguese beach.

The 41-year-old tourist got into trouble when he went swimming at the beach of Sao Pedro de Moel near the city of Nazare, north of Lisbon.

A surfer went to him after he saw himself being dragged further out to sea by the strong current. But despite attempts to revive the Briton, he was pronounced dead at the scene.

A Dutchman, probably about the same age, who had been with the Briton and a group of friends, was taken to hospital after getting into trouble himself. He was able to get out of the water without help.

The tragedy occurred around 3pm on Wednesday at Sao Pedro de Moel beach, which has become famous for the giant waves that hit the shore every year from October to February, attracting surfers and spectators from all over the world.

Local police chief Joao Lourenco said a 41-year-old foreign man had died after being “swept away by the current” on the beach, before Portugal’s National Maritime Agency confirmed the victim’s British nationality.

The agency said in a statement: ‘A British man aged 41 died on Wednesday afternoon after getting into difficulty on the beach of Sao Pedro de Moel.

‘There was no lifeguard on the beach at that time.’

Lourenco said another man of about the same age was taken to Santo Andre Hospital in the city of Leiria as a precaution.

Local reports say the Briton, who has not been named, was part of a group of recovering addicts who were treated at a nearby drug addiction clinic and regularly went to the beach as part of their therapy.

MailOnline has contacted the British Foreign Office for comment.

Last weekend, the Portuguese Federation of Lifeguards (FEPONS) warned of the “high risk of drowning” given the high temperatures and the end of assistance to swimmers on most beaches.

It also revealed that 60 people drowned in the first six months of the year – down from the same period last year when there were 68 deaths, but higher than the average for the past six years.

In January, a British teenager drowned after being caught in a rip current while swimming with friends on a Portuguese beach.

The 19-year-old and two friends got into trouble while diving at a small sandy beach on the coast of the Costa da Caparica, south of Lisbon.

Two of the three people, all believed to be British, had managed to escape by the time help arrived and a search was launched for the third, ending with the discovery of his body on neighboring Tarquinio-Paraiso beach.

In June 2021, British financial advisor Trevor Pelling, 45, drowned while trying to save his two daughters. They ran into trouble when they tried to rescue his two daughters, aged 12 and nine, on Calada Beach north of Lisbon.

The girls were later taken to Santa Maria Hospital in Lisbon for medical examination and a psychologist was made available to assist the distressed young people and their mother.

In October 2019, yoga teacher Kim Fletcher, 33, and her former hip-hop musician fiance Danny Johnson, 34, died in Zambujeira do Mar in southwestern Portugal.

Danny swam out to try to save his partner when she was swept away by a dangerous tide, but they drowned after he reached her and tried to get her back to the shoreline.

The couple, from Stoke-on-Trent, had a four-year-old daughter called Aveyja and also looked after Kim’s 15-year-old girl Maicee from a previous relationship.

In July this year, a British tourist drowned in his hotel pool in the Algarve. The hotel where the incident involving the 27-year-old holidaymaker took place was locally known at the time as the Paraiso Hotel in the popular resort of Albufeira.