The vessel that will take away the helicopter that crashed on Friday on the Douro River in Lamego arrived at the scene at around 10:10, Lusa reported.
The vessel, equipped with a crane, belongs to the company and will operate on the river in accordance with the resources deployed for the operations.
In this area of the Douro River, in Samodaines, municipality of Lamego, district of Viseu, there are several boats of different forces, such as the Navy, Civil Defense and firefighters.
At a briefing held at 8:30 a.m., the regional commander of the Northern Marine Police, Rui Silva Lampreia, explained that the dive and search operations for the still missing GNR soldier began at 7:00 a.m. and that the evacuation of the crashed plane should begin after 10:00 a.m.
Removing the plane from the river will allow us to check whether the missing 29-year-old soldier could have been stuck in the fuselage of the helicopter, explained Rui Silva Lampreia, who is also the commander of field operations.
For this operation, according to the commander, a company has been called in, which will work in coordination with available resources and has a site with cranes “capable of carrying out this removal.”
This morning, underwater searches are underway on land with eight teams of divers from various organisations, as well as on land with foot operators on the river bank, and three drones are carrying out aerial work.
A forest firefighting helicopter crashed into the Douro River on Friday near the town of Samodaines, Lamego, and on board were the pilot and a group of five soldiers from the Emergency Protection and Assistance Unit (UEPC) who were returning from a fire in the municipality of Baiao.
So far, the bodies of four NTC soldiers have been found, and one more element is missing.
The soldiers are between 29 and 45 years old, three from Lamego, one from Moimenta da Beira and another from Castro Daire, Viseu district.
The pilot of the plane was rescued alive, having suffered only minor injuries.
The causes of the accident are not yet known.
The Aviation and Railway Accidents Prevention and Investigation Department has a team investigating the incident.