According to the port captain and local commander of the Lagos Maritime Police, at 9:30am a diving operation began, next to the cliff, to check whether the 27-year-old man had been trapped in any of the various underwater caves found in the area.

On Sunday, a team of divers from the Maritime Police tried three times to look for the missing young man, next to the cliff, but the sea conditions prevented the submariners from carrying out an underwater check, said Pedro da Palma.

According to an AMN statement, the search operations, coordinated by the Commander of the Maritime Police of Lagos, involve elements of the local command of the Maritime Police of Lagos, the Lifeguard Station of Sagres, the Forensic Diving Group of the Maritime Police and the Sagittarius ship, from the Portuguese Navy, as well as elements from the Volunteer Firefighters of Vila do Bispo.

“[...] The man was walking, accompanied by a person, along a cliff between Praia do Barranco and Praia da Ingrina, when he allegedly dived into the sea, and then ended up disappearing”, according to the statement.

The captain of the port of Lagos had told Lusa on Sunday that the authorities had tried to carry out three dives, but that these had been “interrupted for safety reasons” since the sea was “very rough”.

The captain of the port of Lagos stressed that the surf has been intense in the area where the young man jumped into the water.

The alert for the disappearance of the American was received at around 8:00pm on Friday and searches continued for part of the night, until they were interrupted due to poor visibility conditions at the site, AMN reported on Friday night.