New Air & Road Deaths ; Jewish Cemetery Halts Works ; Ronaldo In Champions League
(27th May). ‘Victim Of Air Crash On Madeira Dies From His Injuries’. The 24 year old man who was a passenger in the private Zlin aerobatics plane, that crashed on Sunday evening, has died from his injuries. He received third degree burns over 80% of his body after the plane crashed and burst into flames. He was taken to a specialist unit in Porto, but was unable to survive his injuries. Funchal Central Hospital mistakenly reported the man as being 49 years old. He is a natural from the Algarve in Portugal.
The Portuguese frigate that has just returned from the Ilhas Selvagens will be in Funchal today for it’s maiden visit, and will be open to the public between 4pm and 6pm. The ‘Bartolomeu Dias’ is the most recent acquisition for the Portuguese Navy, and replaces the class ‘João Belo’, sold to Uruguay. The ship was previously in service with the Dutch Navy, and was purchased along with ‘D. Francisco de Almeida’, which is due to be delivered early next year.
‘Explosion Of Impatience In The Curral’. Six years on, with crimes to be judged, and compensation still to be decided. The families of the four victims in the tunnel of Curral das Freiras (Valley of the Nuns) are still waiting in desperation. It was 7th March 2003 at 12.30pm, when an early detonation of 12 kilos of explosive in the new tunnel under construction, took the lives of 4 workers and injured others. Criminal liability has still not been decided, after AFA and it’s insurer appealed to the court of appeal in Lisbon, after the court in Funchal made judgement in July 2007. AFA (Avelino Farinha & Agrela), the civil construction giant, was cited as jointly criminally responsible for the accident, along with 4 others. The trial against the defendants was supposed to start last month in Funchal, but that was postponed. Also on trial are the explosives handling expert, who had gone off to do something else when the explosion occurred, and a team leader in the construction who was not authorised to handle explosives. It is thought that drilling work may have set off the charges. The article is really more about the suffering families than those responsible, and how the losses have affected the families, and their finances.
‘Ronaldo And Messi Today In Fight For The Champions – Rome hosts the duel between the best in the world and the principal pretender to his throne’. Manchester United V Barcelona in the champions league final of course. I will say no more, other than to add that if there are any football fans out there, you can watch the game on channel one, RTP-1, at 7.45pm tonight. Good luck Ronnie! (only because you are from Madeira of course).
‘Change Of Schedule Throws Flor Do Mar – The TV series filmed on Madeira falls in the audience ratings’. The TV channel TVI has split its nightly showing of the most popular programme in the ratings into two time slots, and changed the times, and audience ratings have fallen. Couple that with a new nightly series (soap) that was first shown on 11th May, and Flor do Mar has now fallen 600,000 nightly viewers behind.
Business must be slow for MEO and other divisions in the telephone, internet and TV businesses of Portugal Telecom. MEO are offering 3 months service with no payment, but of course there are bound to be catches. SAPO are offering 3 services for the price of one at €19.99 per month. That includes ADSL with unlimited downloads, telephone with free calls, and wide band mobile.
‘Cemetery Of The Jews Hinders Toco – Judaic law prohibits the relocation of cemeteries, as is the case at Lazareto, that is hindering the start of building work. The Israeli Ambassador, visiting Madeira today, wants to resolve the situation’. The Israeli Ambassador from Lisbon, supports the construction of a supporting wall at the Jewish cemetery in Lazareto, Santa Maria Maior. This would involve the movement of bodies to the cemetery at São Martinho, and the subject is expected to be one of the highlights of a meeting with President Jardim today. The 19th century cemetery is completely abandoned, and the ambassador agrees that the degradation of the infrastructure needs to be addressed quickly, because some of the graves are perched on a cliff edge. It is not entirely clear how the cemetery impacts the building project, costing €390 million, but it seems that it is more of a safety issue, than someone trying to acquire the cemetery land.
On Monday it was reported that a man involved in a motorcycle accident had a leg amputated, and was in danger of losing his arm also. It isn’t in the newspaper yet, but I was told in town this morning by someone who knew him, that he has also died. He was a policeman (GNR) at Madeira Airport. A pretty bleak few days on the roads, and what with the death from the plane crash as well.
