A British man who drowned after he was swept out to sea by strong currents at a Portuguese beach has been pictured.
Paul Calow, 41, got into difficulty when he went for a swim at Sao Pedro de Moel beach near the town of Nazare, north of Lisbon.
A surfer went to his aid after seeing he was being dragged further out to sea by the strong currents. But despite best efforts to revive Paul, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
His brother Dale Calow has paid tribute to him, describing the 41-year-old as his ‘best friend’ and a ‘beautiful person’ who was turning his life around at a rehab centre after struggling with his mental health.
Dale said Paul was being treated at a nearby drug addiction clinic and he and a group of other recovering addicts had gone to the beach to go for a walk and swim. But Paul, along with two others, got into difficulty as a result of the strong currents.
‘My brother didn’t make it,’ Dale wrote on Facebook. ‘He was so happy, waiting to show you all [he was turning his life around] and make me proud. Remember the smiles he made and the laughs, how he would go out of his way.’
Paul Calow, 41, (right with his brother Dale) got into difficulty when he went for a swim at Sao Pedro de Moel beach near the town of Nazare, north of Lisbon
His brother Dale Calow (left with Paul, right) has paid tribute to him, describing the 41-year-old as his ‘best friend’ and a ‘beautiful person’ who had struggled with drugs and mental health but was turning his life around ‘to make his family proud’
Dale, referring to Paul by his nickname Ginge, added: ‘Ginge was a beautiful person, please remember his eyes and smile, please remember my brother. You will never find another ginge. I already miss him.’
He said Paul had struggled with his mental health and drugs but was trying to turn his life around at a rehab centre in northern Portugal.
‘He struggled hugely with his mental health because he had a huge heart,’ Dale said. ‘He was my brother, he was my best friend. He was on the mend.
‘He didn’t take his own life, he was buzzing to prove everything he was the old Paul, he was my Paul. He would jump through hoops for you.’
The two brothers had run a design business called Positive Signs and Designs in Spain together before Paul went to rehab.
The tragedy occurred around 3pm on Wednesday at Sao Pedro de Moel beach, which has become famous for the giant waves that hit its coast every year from October to February and attract surfers and spectators from all over the world.
A Dutch national, believed to be around the same age as Paul and had been with the Briton, was taken to hospital after getting into difficulty himself. He was able to get out of the water without help.
Local maritime police chief Joao Lourenco said a 41-year-old foreign man had died after ‘being swept away by currents’ at the beach, before the Portugal’s National Maritime Agency confirmed the victim’s nationality as British.
The agency said in a statement: ‘A British man aged 41 died on Wednesday afternoon after getting into difficulties at Sao Pedro de Moel beach.
‘There was no lifeguard service at the beach at that time.’
Lourenco said another man of about the same age had been taken to Santo Andre Hospital in the city of Leiria as a precaution.
MailOnline has contacted the UK Foreign Office for comment.
At the weekend the Portuguese Federation of Lifeguards (FEPONS) warned of the ‘high risk of drowning’ given the high temperatures and the end of assistance to bathers on most beaches.
It also revealed 60 people drowned in the first six months of the year – less than the same period last year when there were 68 deaths but higher than the average of the last six years.
Paul Calow drowned after he was swept out to sea by strong currents at a Portuguese beach (file image of the beach at Nazare, Portugal)
Paul, 41, got into difficulty when he went for a swim at Sao Pedro de Moel beach near the town of Nazare, north of Lisbon
In January a British teenager drowned after being caught up in a rip current while swimming with friends on a Portuguese beach.
The 19-year-old and two pals got into difficulties during a dip off a small sandy beach on the Costa da Caparica coastline south of Lisbon.
Two of the three people, all thought to be Brits, had managed to get out by the time help arrived and a search was launched for the third which ended with his body being discovered on neighbouring Tarquinio-Paraiso Beach.
In June 2021 British financial consultant Trevor Pelling, 45, drowned while trying to save his two daughters they got into difficulties while trying to save his two daughters aged 12 and nine at Calada Beach north of Lisbon.
The girls were later taken to Santa Maria Hospital in Lisbon for a medical examination and a psychologist was provided to assist the grief-stricken youngsters and their mum.
In October 2019 yoga teacher Kim Fletcher, 33, and her former hip hop musician fiance Danny Johnson, 34, died at Zambujeira do Mar in the south-west of Portugal.
Danny swam out to try to save his partner as she got carried away by a dangerous rip tide, but they drowned after he reached her and tried to get her back to the shoreline.
The couple, from Stoke-on-Trent, had a four-year-old daughter called Aveyja and also cared for Kim’s 15-year-old girl Maicee from a previous relationship.
In July this year a British tourist drowned at his Algarve hotel pool. The hotel where the incident involving the 27-year-old holidaymaker occurred was named locally at the time as the Paraiso Hotel in the popular resort of Albufeira.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
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