A 55-year-old man was found dead on Sunday in the waters of the Alqueva Dam, in the municipality of Mourão, in Évora, after participating in a hot air balloon ride.

Initial reports indicated that the man had felt unwell shortly after starting the trip in Monsaraz, in the neighboring municipality of Reguengos de Monsaraz, and asked to get off the balloon. Once on the ground, and despite being assisted by a support team from the company, he ended up dying.

However, according to several witnesses, including the man's girlfriend, Alexandra Santos, that is not how it happened. The victim is said to have left the balloon basket for the water after an unplanned landing at the request of the balloonist, as did two or three other men who were on the trip, to push the basket to the shore.

"The balloon started to lean towards the water because of the winds, and at the speed we were going, the pilot had no choice and we hit the water, but very close to the shore. We all got our feet wet," the woman told Lusa, adding that the aircraft "continued to move" towards the interior of the reservoir, and the pilot then suggested that some passengers "go outside to pull the basket to shore."

At that point, the balloon gained altitude and "hit the water again", this time "further away from the shore". The passengers all returned to the basket and the balloon eventually landed in a private olive grove. Although the man did not return to the balloon, his girlfriend was only informed of his death when she was already going to meet him.

"Nobody saw him standing, but he was close to the shore when we last saw him," the woman said.

His body had been found by a company employee on the shores of the reservoir.

The circumstances of the death are now being investigated by both the Judicial Police (PJ) and the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP).

The Passageiros do Vento, the company that organized the trip, refuses to call it an "aeronautical accident" and assures that the man left the balloon "voluntarily". However, it admits that "this does not mean that the company cannot have civil liability".

Who was the victim?

According to the Correio da Manhã, the man's name was George. He was from Lisbon and had booked the trip months ago to see the sunrise from the hot air balloon.

George leaves behind four orphaned children. To this publication, his girlfriend, Alexandra Santos, assured that he died as "a hero", after having saved "12 people".

According to Lusa, the alert for the incident was given at 10:19 am. Civil Protection revealed that when the firefighters arrived at the scene they found the body on the shore of the reservoir, after it had been spotted by "an employee of the hot air balloon company".

The commander of the Mourão Fire Department, Fábio Quintas, told the same news agency that the corporation's operatives removed the victim from the water and that he "was in cardiorespiratory arrest". "The doctor from the VMER [emergency and resuscitation medical vehicle] confirmed the death," he added.

An autopsy on the body will determine the cause of death, but so far no information is known.

Read Also: Man dies after feeling unwell during balloon trip in Alqueva (Portuguese version)