Africa-Press – Cape verde. The Chargé d’Affaires of the Portuguese Embassy in Cape Verde, Nuno Félix, today highlighted the capabilities of the Portuguese Navy ship NRP Sines, which will help minimize the impacts of the crisis caused by the rains in São Vicente, particularly in supplying water to essential facilities, such as the Baptista de Sousa Hospital and the Hemodialysis Center.
Upon the ship’s arrival in Mindelo, Nuno Félix emphasized that the vessel reinforces the response capacity on several fronts.
“This is a ship that brings a set of capabilities to support the population of São Vicente and, above all, to work side-by-side with the Cape Verdean authorities. Among them, a small water production capacity, primarily allocated to the hospital’s most critical needs. A trip to Santo Antão is also planned to transport surplus water from that island to Mindelo,” he stated.
Among the planned missions, the inspection of the seabed of Porto Grande Bay stands out, considered essential to ensuring navigational safety.
“Checking the condition of the bay bottom is to ensure navigation safety and includes specific missions to support the population and collaborate in the intensive recovery efforts of the city and the island. The arrival of this ship shows that solidarity cannot be limited to words and, in this case, translates into concrete actions. We will be here at this critical stage alongside Cape Verde and the Cape Verdeans,” the diplomat stated.
The ship’s commander, Lieutenant Commander Vítor Manuel Silva Santos, said the mission is to contribute to the restoration of normalcy on the island.
“Support is always limited, but we will do our best to help and return Mindelo to a normal situation, or at least get close to it, giving our best,” he assured.
In turn, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Paulo Rocha, highlighted the reinforcement of human and technical resources that the ship’s arrival represents.
“Sines specializes in interventions on critical infrastructure, removing large volumes, and also has some hydrographic research capabilities. In the bay area, we still have large objects, including a vehicle, and the ship will support their removal with specialized divers. It also has water pumping capabilities, which will be useful for removing accumulated water from basements and swamps. Together with Civil Protection, they will tour the city to identify where they can be most useful, including removing debris,” he explained.
Paulo Rocha acknowledged that there is still much to be done to restore normalcy in São Vicente and praised the commitment of institutions and civil society, which remain on the front lines of cleanup and support for those most affected.
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