A British yachtsman has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after allegedly throwing his girlfriend who could not swim into a Portuguese river.
The 60-year-old sailor was accused of abandoning the scene as his partner started to drown.
After the crew of another boat saw her in distress, she was rescued and taken to hospital.
The drama occurred on the River Tagus off the town of Oeiras in the western part of Lisbon’s metropolitan area.
The unnamed Brit was tracked down and arrested and remanded in custody pending an ongoing criminal investigation after being hauled before a judge.
Sign up for all of the latest stories
Start your day informed with Metro’s News Updates newsletter or get Breaking News alerts the moment it happens.
He is continuing to be probed on suspicion of domestic violence and attempted homicide.
The woman, who has been described as a foreigner and is also thought to be British, although police haven’t released her nationality, was hospitalised after the incident.
Her current condition is not known.
Public prosecutors told local press the couple had started dating around a year ago and had lived together in the yacht owned by the man who has been arrested since December last year.
One told respected Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha the British skipper allegedly “threw his victim into the river during a row” before abandoning the scene on his yacht “knowing she couldn’t swim.”
Maritime Police intercepted the suspect before he was formally arrested by officers from Portugal’s PSP police force.
The arrest is understood to have happened hours after the May 30 incident. The yacht has been seized by investigators.
Portuguese police could not be reached early this morning for a formal comment.
The Tagus is the longest river in the Iberian peninsula.
It rises in the Sierra de Albarracin in eastern Spain, about 90 miles from the Mediterranean coast, and flows westward across Spain and Portugal for 626 miles to empty into the Atlantic Ocean near Lisbon.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
