Portimão firefighters have rescued a Moldovan worker who fell down an access hatch and was swept along a large diameter pipe.
The worker had fallen down the Poço Seco - Boavista access point. He dropped 20 metres into the water below.
Desperate firefighters opened hatch after hatch over two kilometres all the way to the Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Rescue teams at three access went down the access shafts using ropes, breathing equipment and gas detectors until finally they found the worker who, remarkably, was still alive despite trauma to the head and left arm.
The searches took an hour in a tunnel of fast-flowing water. The victim was located and rescued on Monday August 21st at 4:15 pm. after travelling some 600 metres from where he had disappeared.
The 52-year-old worker was taken to Portimão hospital, he also is thought to have suffered a spinal injury.
The Municipal Civil Protection Service, the Public Security Police, the Authority for Working Conditions and Águas do Algarve participated in the operation, together with the Fire Department of Portimão, a total of 46 people and 14 vehicles.
