“One of our Canadair C-215 aircraft was involved in a minor incident in northern Portugal today. We would like to emphasize that there are no injuries to report, neither to our crew nor at the site of the incident. A technical team will arrive shortly. We will collaborate with authorities to uncover more details about the incident,” an official source from Avincis stated.
The company stressed that, “at this stage, while the investigation is ongoing, it is premature to speculate on the causes of this incident.”
“The safety of our crew and local communities is our top priority,” Avincis affirmed.
Aviation sources previously indicated that the Canadair engaged in fighting a fire that broke out on Tuesday in Penafiel, Porto district, and spread to Gondomar, suffered structural damage during the water loading operation on the Douro River, in the Entre-os-Rios area, Penafiel municipality.
According to the same sources, after the aircraft landed on the river to collect water, and early in the ‘scoping’ phase (water loading), the pilot lost control, causing the aircraft to strike one of the banks.
A mechanical issue might have been the cause of the incident, the aviation sources suggested, adding that the Canadair sustained damage to one of its floats and the hull, rendering it temporarily inoperable.
In a statement released subsequently, the National Maritime Authority (AMN) reported that through the resources of the Captaincy and the Local Command of the Douro Maritime Police, “assisted two crew members of a fire-fighting plane this afternoon, after an emergency landing on the Douro River, in Entre-os-Rios, Penafiel municipality.”
According to the AMN, following an alert received at 15:30 about a plane’s emergency landing on the river, “elements of the Captaincy and the Local Command of the Douro Maritime Police, along with elements from the Melres Volunteer Firefighters Humanitarian Association, were immediately activated to the site.”
“Upon arrival, the aircraft was located, and it was confirmed that the crew was physically well, without needing medical assistance, and the aircraft had positive buoyancy. The plane will be removed from the location by a company, with the Maritime Police overseeing the operations to ensure navigation safety,” the AMN reported.
The Local Command of the Douro Maritime Police is handling the occurrence.
The alert for this fire, which began in the Capela parish in Penafiel, was raised at 09:26 on Tuesday.
Almost all municipalities in Bragança, Vila Real, Guarda, Viseu, Coimbra, Castelo Branco, and Faro are under maximum rural fire danger today, according to data from the Portuguese Institute of Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA).
