Lisbon, June 27, 2026 (Lusa) - Portugal’s minister for Internal Affairs said on Friday that there is a possibility that Portugal may send a third aircraft with a search and rescue team to Venezuela, where two major earthquakes have claimed nearly 1,000 lives.
After journalists asked whether Madeira wished to send another search-and-rescue aircraft, in addition to the two that left on Friday, Luís Neves replied that Portugal could send a third aircraft.
“There is [that possibility], probably yes, so we need to find the capacity for it; the Azores also want to help and have people available to go, but we have to coordinate all this with the Venezuelan authorities,” Luís Neves explained at the end of a joint visit to the headquarters of the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC) in Lisbon with the speaker of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola.
Luís Neves also stated that it is sometimes preferable to have organised resources that can stand in for one another or be deployed as and when needed, rather than sending resources that cannot operate.
Metsola highlighted the importance of national civil protection authorities.
“It is in this context that we see how European programmes, such as the European Civil Protection Mechanism, depend fundamentally on national units such as this one [ANEPC]. That is why it was appropriate to make this visit today, particularly in light of the recent events,” Roberta Metsola told journalists, referring to the two major earthquakes that struck Venezuela.
Metsola, as well as highlighting the importance of national units to the European Civil Protection Mechanism (which coordinates the response to natural and man-made disasters at EU level and aims to promote cooperation between national civil protection authorities), also signed the ANEPC’s guest book and visited the building’s operations room.
The two KC-390 aircraft of the Portuguese Air Force, which departed for Venezuela on Friday, took off from Beja Air Base.
The Deputy National Commander for Emergency and Civil Protection, José Ribeiro, told Lusa that around 64 members of the search and rescue team were travelling on a military flight provided by the Air Force, noting that the professionals have experience in such operations and have previously taken part in other missions to support countries affected by earthquakes.
The mission comprises 27 members of the National Republican Guard (GNR), 15 from the Lisbon Fire and Rescue Regiment, 10 members of Portugal’s National Medical Emergency Institute (INEM) and 11 from the National Authority for Emergencies and Civil Protection (ANEPC).
The Portuguese mission is part of the European Civil Protection Mechanism, and departed from Portugal on a dedicated flight while some European Union countries have already arrived in Venezuela.
On Friday, the Regional Government of Madeira announced that it was ready to send 18 operational staff to Venezuela, who will form part of a joint force specialising in search, location and rescue operations for victims, according to a statement from the Regional Secretariat for Health and Civil Protection in a note sent to newsrooms.
The Madeiran delegation comprises six operatives from the Regional Civil Protection Service (SRPC), 11 from the autonomous region’s fire services and a doctor from the Rapid Medical Intervention Team (EMIR), the Madeiran government (PSD/CDS-PP) reported.
According to the statement, the Joint Operational Force, which also includes personnel from the Azores, “will be deployed with the capacity for logistical self-sufficiency for a period corresponding to the duration of the mission, estimated at 12 days, ensuring that accommodation, food, water supplies, communications, medical support and operational equipment will be provided in the area of structural support, thereby enabling the assigned tasks to be carried out”.
The Regional Government will announce the arrival time of the personnel in Venezuela in due course.
The two major earthquakes recorded in Venezuela on Wednesday caused at least 929 deaths and 3,360 injuries, according to the latest official figures.
Among the dead are at least 28 Portuguese nationals and people of Portuguese descent, and a further 85 remain unaccounted for.
According to the UN, more than 50,000 people remain unaccounted for.
Portugal and seven other European Union countries are to send search-and-rescue teams to Venezuela.
The earthquakes, measuring 7.2 and 7.5 on the Richter scale, struck 200 kilometres from Caracas, less than a minute apart, and were followed by more than 20 aftershocks, according to the United States Geological Survey.
Dozens of buildings have collapsed or been severely damaged in the capital, Caracas, and in the La Guaira region, one of the worst-affected areas.
Venezuela is home to one of the most significant Portuguese communities in the world, the second-largest in Latin America. Most of its members originate from the Madeira archipelago and the central (Aveiro) and northern (Porto) regions of Portugal, according to official figures.
It is estimated that 1.2 million Portuguese nationals and people of Portuguese descent live in Venezuela.
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