A British man has been found dead in Portugal after a two-week international search.
The 63-year-old’s body was discovered by locals who alerted the country’s Maritime Police.
The unnamed expat, who lived on a sailboat anchored on the Guadiana River between Spain and Portugal, was last seen near the Guerreiros do Rio area in the municipality of Alcoutim, a half-hour drive north of the Algarve coast.
Reports at the time of a search operation, launched by Spanish and Portuguese police the day after his December 6 disappearance, said he could have fallen off his boat.
The alarm was raised by people who saw the Brit’s vessel adrift with no-one on board.
The dead man’s body is thought to have been found near the area where he vanished, although there was no immediate confirmation from police following the find.
There is no suggestion at this stage his death was the result of any foul play, although a full investigation will now take place with the autopsy being key to its development.
Portugal’s National Maritime Authority, confirming the grim discovery, said in a statement: “The body of a man reported missing on December 8 on the River Guadiana when he was on board a pleasure boat in the area of Guerreiros do Rio has been recovered.
“The alarm was raised around 11.15am yesterday when locals phoned to say they say they had seen a body floating in the water.
“Maritime Police based in Vila Real de Santo Antonio were immediately mobilised and the body recovered.
“It has been identified as that of the British man who had disappeared. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
“His body has been taken to Faro for the autopsy.”
The hunt for the missing man had been suspended on December 10 after Spanish and Portuguese search teams failed to find any trace of him.
The Guadiana River is an international river defining a long stretch of the Portugal-Spain border.
It covers a distance of 515 miles, making it the fourth-longest in the Iberian peninsula.
Portugal’s National Maritime Authority, in its last comment on the disappearance on December 10, announced it was suspending the search.
They said ”The search for the 63-year-old British man said to have disappeared while he was sailing on board a recreational vessel on the Guadiana River, in the Guerreiros do Rio area, was suspended late this afternoon without anything or anyone being found.
"Guerreiros do Rio area, was suspended late this afternoon without anything or anyone being found.”
