Rescuers save surfer after accident in Portugal
An accident which could have cost Maya Gabeira, the Brazilian surfer specialised in riding giant waves, her life. The 26-year-old professional surfer, who has toured the planet in the search for the largest waves to surf on, calls herself a “Storm surfer”.
It is a fascinating sport but certainly not free of danger: this time it was the waters of the Atlantic off the coast of Nazaré, Portugal, that nearly played a fatal trick on the surfer from Rio, when she was caught out by a giant wave off the resort’s Praia do Norte. Maya Gabeira was catapulted into the water and lost consciousness: only through the rapid intervention of rescuers with a jet-ski specially modified for life-saving was the poor surfer brought to dry land and resuscitated. She is now out of danger in hospital.
