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Over 100 people treated for nausea and vomiting due to seawater contamination in Portugal’s Nazaré


By&nbspEuronews

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At least 116 people needed hospital treatment after visiting Portugal’s Nazaré beach, in the district of Leiria, which was closed to bathers on Friday due to a “technical fault” that caused a discharge into the storm drains and bad smells near the coastline.

According to a statement from the Local Health Unit of the Leiria region, sent to Portugal’s Lusa agency, 44 children and 26 adults had been seen by doctors by the end of Saturday afternoon, with symptoms such as vomiting, nausea, or diarrhoea.

The records are not yet fully finalised, and the Public Health Unit of the ULS of the Leiria Region is still working on verifying all the cases identified, the same statement said.

The mayor of Nazaré, Manuel Sequeira, confirmed to Lusa that especially young people were admitted to hospital with symptoms of gastroenteritis, nausea and vomiting, and that “they had in common having been on the beach.”

Bathing ban lifted

The ban on bathing at Nazaré beach, in the district of Leiria, was lifted on Saturday night after analyses carried out by the authorities showed that the water was now clean.

In a statement, Nazaré’s town hall revealed that, after a visit on Saturday afternoon, it was also possible to see “that the seawater is currently clear and transparent, with no signs of macroscopic organic constituents.”

On Friday, the municipality explained in a statement that “a recent technical incident in the rainwater system caused an anomalous outflow, accompanied by bad odours near the coastline,” which forced the beach to be closed to bathers.

Nazaré beach is one of the most popular on Portugal’s west coast. The strong swell makes it ideal for swimming, surfing and bodyboarding.

To the north of the Nazaré promontory is Praia do Norte, an unsupervised beach whose rough sea is much appreciated by surfers and where some of the biggest waves ever have been ridden.



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