São Miguel. Body of man found after diving into lake

The body of the 57-year-old man who had been missing since Thursday in the waters of the Sete Cidades lagoon, on the island of São Miguel, in the Azores, was found today, a firefighter source revealed.

The commander of the Ponta Delgada Volunteer Firefighters, Nuno Barbosa, told the Lusa news agency that the body was located at 3:21 pm local time (one hour more in Lisbon) by a diver and was removed from the water at 4:10 pm local time.

The body was later transported to the Ponta Delegada hospital morgue for autopsy. Nuno Barbosa reported that the body was submerged "on top of a 'cushion' of seaweed."

The man was reported missing at 3:40 pm local time (one hour more in Lisbon) on Thursday, after diving into the Sete Cidades lagoon, where he was with a group of friends.

The searches, carried out between Thursday and today, involved teams of divers, drones used to monitor the banks, rescue motorcycles, a vessel with a probe to "sweep the bottom" of the lagoon and a submersible drone from the University of the Azores (which is usually used for scientific research at sea).

Today, 12 firefighters and divers from the volunteer fire departments of Ponta Delgada, Ribeira Grande and Vila Franca do Campo, as well as members of the PSP, were on site.

On Thursday, the deputy commander of the Ponta Delgada Volunteer Firefighters, Fernando Infante, told Lusa that the man, a resident of the island of São Miguel, was at the site with a group of friends and disappeared while sailing in a boat commonly known as a “gaivota” and decided to dive.

Users of the recreational boats available at the site "must wear a life jacket, which is mandatory," but "apparently, the gentleman removed it to go for a swim," he stated. According to the Sete Cidades Lagoon Watershed Management Plan, "the properly demarcated and signposted recreational bathing area—the beach—should be the only place where swimming and bathing are permitted."