Sadness in Póvoa de Varzim as two elderly sisters die in 44ºC heat of greenhouse

A community in Póvoa de Varzim is in mourning today for two elderly sisters, who sold fruit and vegetables at a Sunday market, and who died on Saturday harvesting produce from a nearby greenhouse.

Everything points to the stultifying heat having caused the deaths.

Reports explain that septuagenarians, Florinda, 76, and Maria, 73, lived together – Florinda caring for Maria who had cognitive difficulties. The pair sold their produce from a stall at the Feira da Estela, and last Sunday (yesterday), they were not in their usual spot.

People who knew the pair went ‘looking for them’. Getting no response from their home, the next logical place to look was the greenhouse. And it was here that the bodies of the two women were found.

Noticiasaominuto paints a scenario in which Florinda will have become ‘ill’ from the heat, and Maria would have been unable to call for help, due to her limitations.

Talking to other people who had been working in the greenhouse on Saturday, the online heard that the heat in Póvoa de Varzim was already in the 40ºs on Saturday before lunch, and that no-one could bear being inside the greenhouse beyond 11.30am, because of how hot it was inside.

Unfortunately, the two women arrived at the greenhouse, on a small tractor, as other workers were leaving – and no-one thought to dissuade them from going inside.

Source: noticiasaominuto/ Correio da Manhã

Natasha Donn

Journalist for the Portugal Resident.