Portugal declares day of mourning after four die in helicopter crash

Lisbon: Portugal has declared a day of mourning after a firefighting helicopter crashed in the Douro River leaving at least four dead and one missing.

The pilot survived the accident, which happened in Lamego a little after 12.30pm on Friday afternoon while the helicopter was returning from fighting a fire near Baião, just inland from the city of Porto.

Two bodies were pulled from inside the helicopter, which had split in two, Rui Silva Lampreia, the commander of the National Maritime Authority, told the Portuguese media.

“We’re doing underwater searches around the helicopter and on the banks.”

The cause of the accident is yet to be established.

Two more bodies were located later near the aircraft’s tail, he added. He said the search for the fifth passenger had been suspended at nightfall and would resume the next day.

The victims, aged from 29 to 45, are all members of the Emergency Protection and Rescue Unit (UEPS) of the national gendarmerie, the country’s civil protection authority said in a communique.

The civilian pilot, 44, was found alive and slightly injured, the gendarmerie spokesperson Mafalda Almeida said.

The prime minister, Luis Montenegro, who travelled to the scene of the crash, told reporters that Saturday would be a national day of mourning.