The body of the director of the Macrobiotic Institute of Portugal, Francisco Varatojo, was found on Friday afternoon, July 7th, according to a report from the Captain of the Port of Setúbal, Luís Nicholson Lavrador.
The corpse was recovered at a depth of 18 metres by divers from the Maritime Police near the place where he had disappeared near Pedra de Arcanzil, between Cabo Espichel and Porto da Baleeira, on Thursday, said a source at the diving school that owned the vessel that was being used for the dive.
"Unfortunately, I can confirm that the missing diver is Francisco Varatojo, a situation that we are very sorry for. He was in a group of experienced divers," said Leandro Pereira of the Megadive diving school.
"At the end of the morning there was a diving accident, the group was in the diving area, until they found one missing." They immediately dived, but they did not see him again, "said Luís Nicholson Lavrador.
As soon as the Vatatojo was found to be missing, the authorities were contacted and immediately began searching.
António Varatojo was a native of Leiria, was 56 years old and leaves four children. In a résumé on the Macrobiotic Institute of Portugal website, António Varatojo described himself as a "lover of nature," with a taste for "diving in the ocean and running in the mountains and valleys."
Varatojo also wrote that he stopped eating meat, dairy products, sugar, processed foods and others at age 16, and started a "very rigorous macrobiotic regime.”
He opened the Macrobiotic Institute of Portugal together with his wife, gave lectures, conferences and courses throughout the country and abroad, wrote books, articles and participated in numerous television and radio programmes.
