A body has been discovered following a search operation launched for a missing 23-year-old British man who disappeared in a well-known holiday destination.
The young man vanished while swimming in the sea in Portugal last week, according to local authorities.
Portugal's National Maritime Authority confirmed the 23-year-old disappeared on Thursday while swimming alongside a 19-year-old man, also from the UK, at Peneco Beach in Albufeira, on Portugal's southern coast.
Portuguese police confirmed that a body, believed to be that of the missing man, was recovered on Tuesday afternoon off the Albufeira coastline.
Search and Recovery Operation
Portuguese police said in a statement: "Following an alert at 6.37 pm from a fisherman in the vicinity, officers from the Portimao Local Maritime Police Command, the Albufeira Volunteer Firefighters' Humanitarian Association and the Albufeira Municipal Civil Protection Service were mobilised."
"On arrival at the scene, members of the Maritime Police, in collaboration with the Fire Brigade, transported the victim to Albufeira Marina."
A local Maritime Police official said: "Death was confirmed at the scene and, following contact with the Public Prosecutor's Office, the body was transported by the Fire Brigade to the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences of the Western Algarve."
The British Consulate in Portimao was contacted and informed of the incident.
"The Maritime Police's Portimao Local Command took charge of the incident."
Details of the Incident
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has been contacted for comment. According to the National Maritime Authority, a search was launched after the man disappeared last Friday.
The 19-year-old British national who was with the 23-year-old "apparently managed to get out of the water by his own means to seek help after which the other one disappeared".
