British surfer Arran Strong, 27, missing off Arrifana beach in Aljezur; sea search suspended overnight

The disappearance

Arran Strong, a British professional surfer, went missing from his stand-up paddleboard on Monday 27 July off the coast of Arrifana, in the municipality of Aljezur on Portugal's Algarve coast. Strong, reported as 27 years old by JN and 28 by Correio da Manhã, was accompanying his friend and mentor José Maria Pyrrait on one stage of a paddleboard crossing of the entire Portuguese coastline, from Caminha to Vila Real de Santo António. The alert was received at 11:33 on Monday morning.

The pair had stopped about one nautical mile off Arrifana to drink water and take photographs, Pyrrait later recounted on social media. When they resumed the stage, Pyrrait looked back and saw Strong's board drifting roughly 100 metres away with no sign of the younger surfer.

“I paddled as fast as I could to the spot, dived again and again looking for him, but we were in a very deep area and visibility was very short. A local fisherman picked me up, and me and the boards, and we spent nearly two and a half hours combing the whole surrounding area with the boat's sonar.”

Pyrrait described the chances of finding Strong alive as practically nil. The captain of the port of Lagos, Hugo da Guia, told Lusa that both men were highly experienced and were relatively far from the coast when Strong disappeared. His companion was rescued by local fishermen who had already begun searching in the first moments after the alert.

The search operation

Search operations on Monday were coordinated by the port captain and local commander of the Lagos Maritime Police. Assets deployed included personnel from the Sagres lifeboat station, the Lagos Maritime Police, the SeaWatch project, and a Portuguese Air Force aircraft. Aljezur volunteer firefighters also supported the effort with drones.

Operations were suspended at nightfall on Monday without the victim having been found. The Maritime Police psychology office was activated to support the victim's family.

Weather disrupts Tuesday's efforts

Searches resumed on Tuesday morning, but dense fog severely limited operations. Captain Hugo da Guia told Lusa that an Air Force helicopter was scheduled to begin operating at 9:30 a.m. and a lifeboat at 9:00 a.m., but by 9:30 a.m. visibility was zero and those assets could not be deployed. At that point, searching was being conducted only from land, with five personnel and three vehicles. Authorities were waiting for weather conditions to improve before integrating the helicopter and boat into the search.

Operations were again interrupted at the end of Tuesday, with the National Maritime Authority confirming they would resume on Wednesday morning.

“The searches were interrupted at the beginning of the evening today without the victim having been found.”

Who is Arran Strong

Strong, a resident of Ericeira, competed on the Portuguese professional surfing circuit. He was ranked sixth in the Portuguese Surf League and 46th in the World Surf League qualifying series at the time of his disappearance. Correio da Manhã reported that he suffers from a rare genetic disease that mainly affects the lungs and liver and had been medicated after suffering an epileptic seizure that forced him to temporarily interrupt his surfing career. Despite this, he continued to train and was regarded as an example of resilience.