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A CHILD WHO died in the flames during his parents’ honeymoon, a family saved by a water tank, and a group of friends rescued by a generous neighbour.
These are some of the stories of dozens of Portuguese whose lives were rocked by fires that swept through the centre of the country at the weekend.
At least 64 people have died in the fires. Firefighters are still tackling blazes in several locations.
The parents of four-year-old Rodrigo were on their honeymoon when they heard news of the devastating fire sweeping through the village of Nodeirinho in the Leiria region.
The newlyweds had left their little boy with his uncle and aunt, the Correio da Manha newspaper reported. Unable to get hold of them, Rodrigo’s mother pleaded for help on social media to find her child.
His grandmother had rushed from Lisbon to try to find him, but the bodies of Rodrigo and his uncle were found beside a car, caught by the flames as they tried to flee.
Water tank escape
While several residents of the village of Pobrais were killed while trying to flee roadside flames, the Ferreira family survived by taking refuge in a small water tank a few metres from their door.
Maria do Ceu, a 52-year-old housewife, her husband, a 68-year-old who was formerly in the merchant navy, and their two daughters aged in their 30s told AFP of their “indescribable” fear.
“I knew we would be safe if we stayed in the water,” one of the daughters, a forest engineer, said. “We tried to convince our neighbours to stay, we begged them, but they still left” by car, towards the road where 11 of them were found dead.
Refuge from the flames
A 60-year-old widow’s home, the most modern in Nodeirinho, became a refuge from the raging fire destroying house after house in the village, the Expresso newspaper reported.
Two panicked couples from Lisbon and three children, who had been caught in the flames as they returned from lunch with friends, knocked on Adelaide Silva’s door, pleading for shelter.
Silva welcomed the family, before letting in an eighth survivor who had been trying to escape by car with her husband.
However, the fire had quickly caught up with the couple, killing the husband while his wife managed to escape with burns to her face, arms and back. One of the women who had already taken refuge in the house, a nurse, wrapped her in wet towels until she was later taken to hospital.
Livelihood destroyed
Virgilio Godinho and his wife Isabel saw their small farm, together with their orchard, olive grove, vegetable garden and pick-up truck go up in flames in the village of Vilas de Pedro.
The couple and their 18-year-old daughter escaped because they were attending a wedding in another village.
Isabel Godinho, 63, tearfully told AFP: “We lost everything, I do not how we will eat, I’m going crazy.”
Virgilio, an unemployed mechanic, lost his entire tool collection.
“It was fortunate we were not there because I would have tried to save our possessions and then the worst could have happened,” he said.
Arkham Knight! I’ll have to ask Santa nicely for a PS4 console now. I can always wish… Failing that I can sell crack to blind kids & make a few bob that way.
Uncharted and LBP3 look amazing. The Order could be promising
Other than that it was just multiplatform stuff. (Far cry and AC Unity also look great).
That being said there isnt much to encourage me to but a PS4 until this time next year
but* = buy
Looking forward to Destiny, but what I really want is a Fallout 4 announcement of some sort
I’m really in want of a PS4 right now @.@
That’s more like it Sony, I was an xbox fan for so long, not anymore!!
Same. I had both an Xbox 360 and a PS3 but I only have a PS4 now.
Nothing about Bloodborne? Considering the director is the same guy who did Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls 1 you’d think there’d be more attention about it…
There was a vid released at e3 showcasing BloodBourne, journal doesn’t have it though.
The only one there with looking forward to is mgs
Really? The trailer bored the arse off me quite frankly. I know Kojima likes his long, theatrical…well, everything, but this was just obscure. Am I the only one that has no idea what the mechanical arm is about? Is Snake the guy that killed Harrison Ford’s wife in The Fugitive?
I’d hold off on getting it right away wait for it to come bundled with mgs ground zero
Abes odyssey in July it’s going to be new n tasty
DLNA and i’ll upgrade from the PS3. Until then not interested.
For the love of all that is good, no more multiplayer first person shooters! It’s depressing looking at the state of shelves for the PS4, making me regret ever going next gen from my xbox…
That being said…. GRIM FANDANGO!!!!
I’ve been waiting for a Grim Fandango remake for years.
Rainbow six siege I’ll say no more looks like a winner to me
Still no DLNA
Uncharted!! Wow
About 3 games look good. Rest look crap. MGS looks like it needs to just go away. The Playstation TV looks good, but needs more then just been able to play on different tv’s for me to be interested. But at least Mircosoft built theirs into the Xbone.
Can’t wait for BF Hardline, MGS, Star Wars Battlefront, The Division, Destiny, Uncharted 4, The Last of Us (remastered) and Rainbow Six to name a few!
Thought they might bring out a tablet to rival iPad mini.sony only have big tablets so far
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