British tourists ‘cheat death’ after boat with 36 people capsizes off Portugal’s Algarve

British tourists have told how they ‘cheated death’ after a tourist boat capsized off the Algarve on Monday.

One said she ‘thought she was going to die’ after jumping into the water as she returned from a visit to a sea cave and realised her life jacket wasn’t working properly.

The vessel, with 36 people on board including four children, sank after taking on water.

The alert was sounded just before 1.30pm as it was nearly half a mile from the coast near Alfanzina Lighthouse near the resort of Carvoeiro.

Dramatic pictures showed the boat – which was returning with tourists from a trip to the famous Benagil sea cave – upturned and mostly below water after the rescue operation.

Well-placed sources said five British nationals and two Irish nationals had been on board at the time.

An investigation into the near-tragedy was today underway.

Troy French, from London, said: ‘I was on the phone to some of my colleagues back in England and then I looked behind me and there was lots of water coming into the boat.

‘The crew started to panic and they started lifting some emergency things up and the water started going into the engine and it was smoking.

‘They got everyone to move to the front of the boat and then the back of the boat was sinking, sinking, sinking to the point where everyone just started jumping into the water.

‘A lot of peoples’ lifejackets were failing and weren’t activating when people were going into the water.

‘It was a really bad experience and very scary.

‘It was about three minutes between the time water started coming into the boat and we started sinking and another five to ten minutes before boats started arriving and another five to ten minutes before people started actually getting rescued.

‘Even after we were rescued it was probably another ten to 15 minutes before everyone was taken to safety.

‘I’m a confident swimmer but I was swallowing water and I was panicking for people whose lifejackets weren’t working properly. I’m just so glad that everyone made it out to safety.’ 

Lila Evangelista, also from London, said: ‘I thought I was going to die.

‘The water wasn’t really high to start with and I was calm but then it started rising very quickly and I began to panic.

‘The coastguards came a little bit late when everyone was already in the big boat that picked up most of those that ended up in the water.’

A spokesman for Portugal’s National Maritime Authority said: ‘An alert was received at 1:25 pm local time yesterday, via the Lisbon Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre, saying that a tourist vessel with about 40 people on board was taking on water and was at risk of sinking.

‘Members of the Portimao Maritime Police and Ferragudo Lifeguard Station were immediately sent to the site. Several other tourist vessels also headed to the area.

‘The people who were on the boat were all in the water when they arrived with their life jackets on.

‘They were rescued with the support of a tourist boat that was nearby and the Ferragudo Lifeguard Station boat.

‘A total of 36 people, including four children, who had been on board were then taken to Portimao Marina, where paramedics, Portimao volunteer firefighters, Lagoa volunteer firefighters, civil protection officers and the Portuguese Red Cross were waiting.’

It added in a statement: ‘Some were showing signs of hypothermia and they were evaluated then assisted by the medical teams at the scene, although they didn’t require special medical assistance.’

The damaged vessel was later removed by a company hired by the shipowner and towed to a shipyard in Portimao.

Most of the passengers were described as ‘foreign tourists’. As well as British and Irish tourists, they also included Canadian, French, Swiss, Belgian and South Korean holidaymakers.

No information has yet emerged on the possible cause of the incident.