“He was a man with a big heart who helped many of the entities he went to,” noted Afonso Dinis, stressing that Jorge Jardim’s death “is an immense loss” for all his friends and colleagues.
The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has already offered his condolences to the family of the Portuguese pilot, speaking with one of the pilot’s two sons. “I have already had the opportunity to express my condolences, my feelings, to Henrique, son of the pilot Jorge Jardim, who died in dramatic circumstances, at the service of the community, in the fight against fire, which all indicates that he is on the way to being extinguished” , he stated. Marcelo revealed that he also spoke as the son of the Spanish driver, seriously injured in the same accident. “It is recorded here, with great regret for me, what is another sad event in this time of fires”, he declared.
The Ministry of Internal Administration has also ordered the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC) to open an investigation into the fire that broke out in the Peneda-Gerês National Park, according to Lusa. Since the plane ended up crashing in Spanish territory, even though it was fighting a fire and Portugal, the investigation of the accident is in charge of the authorities that have jurisdiction in the territory, the Spanish.
In just over a year, this is the second time that the Leiria Aeroclube has been dressed in mourning, after in June 2019 an instructor and a student died in an accident not far from its runway, at José Ferrinho aerodrome.
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