A British woman has been killed after a tornado tore through a camping site in Portugal.
The fatal victim, aged 85, was found in cardiac arrest beneath the remains of the bungalow where she had been staying.
At least 28 others have been injured – including Spanish, Portuguese and British nationals – after the extreme weather hit the resort of Albufeira on Saturday.
The dramatic scenes, brought by Storm Claudia, caused a restaurant roof to collapse and created serious damage at the campsite.
Vítor Vaz Pinto, the regional commander for the Algarve at Portugal’s National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection (ANEPC), confirmed at a press briefing that two of the injured are in a serious condition.
He said those hurt range in age from six to 85.
Emergency teams treated guests and employees on site, with most being taken to Albufeira’s health centre.
One seriously injured person was evacuated to Faro Hospital in a critical but stable condition.
Images released by Civil Protection show overturned caravans, roofs torn off, buildings reduced to debris, and campsite equipment hurled several metres away, in stark evidence of the tornado’s intensity.
The alarm was raised shortly after 10am. Witnesses described the event as ‘exactly like a tornado’ with a distinctive conical shape and a sharply defined vortex moving at high speed between Albufeira and Olhos de Água.
Meteorologist Paula Leitão said such episodes are ‘uncommon but possible’ in Portugal and are ‘very difficult to predict in exact time or location’ due to their sudden formation.
Portugal’s president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, issued a statement expressing his condolences to the family of the person who died on Friday morning at a campsite in Albufeira, following the passage of Storm Claudia.
He also wished a ‘swift recovery to the injured citizens.’
