Mystery as body of missing Brit, 63, found on riverbank two weeks after boat discovered floating adrift on Spanish river
AN investigation is underway after a Brit who vanished a fortnight ago from his sailboat in Spain has been found dead.
The 63-year-old’s body was discovered by locals yesterday on a riverbank who alerted the country’s Maritime Police.
The unnamed expat, who lived on a sailboat anchored on the Guadiana River between Spain and Portugal, was last seen near the Guerreiros do Rio area in the municipality of Alcoutim a half-hour drive north of the Algarve coast.
Reports at the time a search operation by Spanish and Portuguese police was launched two days after his December 6 disappearance said he could have fallen off his boat.
The alarm was raised by people who saw the Brit’s vessel adrift with no-one on board.
The dead man’s body was found by a riverbank on the Portuguese side of the border near the area where he vanished.
There is no suggestion at this stage his death was the result of any foul play.
However, a full investigation will now take place with the autopsy being key to its development.
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The post-mortem will take place in the Algarve city of Faro.
Portugal’s National Maritime Authority, confirming the grim discovery, said in a statement: “The body of a man reported missing on December 8 on the River Guadiana when he was on board a pleasure boat in the area of Guerreiros do Rio has been recovered.
“The alarm was raised around 11.15am yesterday when locals phoned to say they had seen a body floating in the water.
“Maritime Police based in Vila Real de Santo Antonio were immediately mobilised and the body recovered.
“It has been identified as that of the British man who had disappeared. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
“His body has been taken to Faro for the autopsy.”
The hunt for the missing man had been suspended on December 10 after Spanish and Portuguese search teams failed to find any trace of him.
The Guadiana River is an international river defining a long stretch of the Portugal-Spain border.
It covers a distance of 515 miles, making it the fourth-longest in the Iberian peninsula.