No fewer than three people have been confirmed dead after a sailing Yacht capsized last night and ran aground on a beach in central Portugal, where the coast has seen heavy swells caused by Storm Ciaran, naval authorities said.
The Danish-flagged pleasure boat capsized around a kilometre off one of the beaches at Santa Cruz, in the municipality of Torres Vedras, around 60 kilometres (37 miles) north of Lisbon, the National Maritime Authority (AMN) said in a statement which was obtained by Africa Today News, New York.
According to Portuguese Navy spokesperson Jose Sousa Luis, the victims—two men and a woman, whose ages and nationalities were not immediately known—were discovered dead on the shore close to the boat’s wreckage and had not put on life jackets.
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The yacht had left the port of Peniche, around 30 kilometres north of Santa Cruz, on Friday morning with three people on board, he added.
Portugal was not directly affected by Storm Ciaran, which has claimed a dozen lives elsewhere in Europe.
But the National Meteorological Institute (IPMA) has placed the country’s central and northern coastal regions on red alert due to the very rough seas, with waves that can exceed seven metres (23 feet) in height.
A new storm, named Domingos by the Spanish meteorological agency, was due to pass off Portugal on Saturday and Sunday, with waves that could reach up to nine metres high, according to the IPMA.
In another report, Germany on Friday morning announced a complete ban on the activities of the Palestinian group Hamas while also ordering the disbanding of a pro-Palestine group accused of spreading anti-Israel and anti-Semitic ideas.
In a statement issued on Friday which was obtained by Africa Today News, New York, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said she implemented a formal ban on activity by or in support of Hamas, which is already designated as a ‘terrorist’ organisation in the country.
‘With Hamas, I have today completely banned the activities of a terrorist organisation whose aim is to destroy the state of Israel,’ Faeser said.
A Hamas official in Lebanon said the move showed that the country was in partnership with Israel on crimes against Palestinian people.