The Portuguese Government has ordered to open an urgent research about the crash of a helicopter that had a health service and that caused the death of their four occupants, among them a Spanish physician, in the north of the country.
The minister of Internal Administration portugal, Eduardo Cabrita, has ordered the National Authority of Civil Protection an urgent research on the mechanisms and communications that were activated after the accident.
The Government’s decision coincides with the dissemination of a letter from the agency of air navigation of Portugal (NAV), in which he said that alerted the Civil Protection authorities and the Air Force of the disappearance of the helicopter after trying to contact unsuccessfully with the command of relief operations, Oporto, Braga, and Vila Real, which “did not answer”.
NAV Portugal argues, in the letter which has been disclosed by local media, that he acted “diligently and expeditiously” and “in compliance with the procedures established for this type of situation” after losing contact with the aircraft, a HSU203.
The helicopter, occupied by the Spanish physician, a nurse and two crew, crashed Saturday in the district of Valongo -15 kilometres of Porto – when he was returning from attending an emergency in the city of Bragança.
The rescue is delayed
Sources of Civil Protection reported that the rescue efforts have begun, but will take several hours due to the difficulty of accessing the area of the accident, in a mountainous area.
The deceased in Spanish is Luis Vega, a physician of 47 years, native of La Coruña, who worked at the Hospital São Sebastião of the city of Santa Maria da Feira (near Porto) for 19 years.
he Was assigned to the emergency service of the hospital and formed part of the National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM), Portugal.
diplomatic Sources Spanish confirmed to Efe that his family has been informed of the accident and has received consular assistance.
The body of the physician, as the rest of the victims will be transferred to the morgue of Oporto, from where it will be repatriated to Spain.
Condolences of the Portuguese Government
The president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, shipping today to extend their condolences to the families and said it will coordinate with the Government a “fitting tribute” to the deceased.
“it Is particularly tragic that these heroes of the medical emergencies, that they spent their days in order to save the sick and accident victims, have themselves killed this way,” said the president.
Also the prime minister, António Costa, lamented the tragedy and conveyed their condolences to the families.
The aircraft left of the signal with the airport of Oporto minutes before seven in the evening (local time), which triggered the protocol of search and rescue.
The signals of the mobile phones of the victims allowed their location well into the early hours in the term of the village of Couce, located in the district of Valongo.
In the rescue were mobilized more than a hundred effective and 35 emergency vehicles.
Since its creation, in 1997, this has been the first serious accident of the INEM in Portugal, which has done 16.370 transportation services by helicopter.
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