British teen drowns in Portugal after getting caught in beach riptide with two friends
6 January 2023, 08:43
A British teenager has drowned after getting caught in a rip tide while swimming with friends on holiday in Portugal.
The teen, 19, got into trouble alongside two friends off a small beach on the Costa de Caparica coastline, south of Lisbon.
The tragic drowning took place on Wednesday afternoon on the 'Red Dragon' beach just before 6.30pm. Two of the three friends, who are all British, managed to leave the sea.
A search for the third boy's body began, which was found on neighbouring Tarquinio-Paraiso Beach.
Portugal’s National Maritime Authority (AMN) has confirmed the victim was from the UK.
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A statement from AMN read: “A 19-year-old young man, of English nationality, died on January 4, on the beach of Dragão Vermelho, on the coast of Caparica in the municipality of Almada, after being caught up in a rip current while he was bathing with two friends.
"The organisation added in its lengthy statement: “Upon arrival the Maritime Police found two of the three people said to have got into difficulties in the water had managed to reach the shore through their own means and they were assisted at the scene by medical experts.
“Searches were immediately initiated for the third person, the 19-year-old man who was subsequently found dead by volunteer firefighters on adjacent Tarquinio-Paraiso Beach.“He was declared dead at the scene by a doctor.”
In a separate incident, Trevor Selling, 45, drowned last summer trying to save his two daughters from a strong current.
