The body was discovered by a diver at 3:21 PM local time (one hour ahead in Lisbon), according to Nuno Barbosa, the commander of the Ponta Delgada Volunteer Firefighters. The body was retrieved from the water by 4:10 PM local time.
The body was subsequently transported to the morgue at Ponta Delgada Hospital for an autopsy.
Nuno Barbosa explained that the corpse was submerged “on a ‘bed’ of marine algae.”
The man was reported missing at 3:40 PM local time (one hour ahead in Lisbon) on Thursday, after diving into the Sete Cidades Lagoon, where he was with a group of friends.
Search efforts, conducted from Thursday through today, included diver teams, drones for shoreline surveillance, rescue scooters, a boat equipped with a sonar to “sweep the lakebed,” and a submersible drone from the University of the Azores typically used for marine scientific research.
Today, 12 operatives and divers from the volunteer fire departments of Ponta Delgada, Ribeira Grande, and Vila Franca do Campo, along with PSP personnel, were present on the scene.
On Thursday, Fernando Infante, the deputy commander of the Ponta Delgada Volunteer Firefighters, noted that the man, a São Miguel Island resident, was with friends and disappeared while on a recreational boat commonly called a “gull,” after deciding to dive.
Users of the recreational boats available at the site “must wear a life jacket, which is mandatory,” but “it appears the man removed it to dive,” he added.
According to the Sete Cidades Lagoon Basin Management Plan, “the designated bathing area – beach, properly marked and signposted, should be the only location where swimming and bathing are permitted.”
