Portugal Orders Inquiry, Halts Special Forces Course After Lieutenant's Death

A seemingly routine special-forces drill in the quiet hills above Lamego ended in the worst possible way this week, leaving a 23-year-old lieutenant dead, the training course suspended and the country asking how such tragedies can still happen in 2024.

Key facts so far

• Lieutenant João Rafael Paulino dos Santos Cardoso, 23, disappeared late on 26 January while crossing the Balsemão River during a night exercise.

• His body was recovered around 08:50 the next morning, roughly 300 m downstream.

• Defence Minister Nuno Melo, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and the Army Chief of Staff have all promised a “full clarification” of events.

• The Military Judicial Police (PJM) is leading the criminal inquiry; an internal board of inquiry has also been set up inside the Army.

• Course activities in the Operações Especiais school at Penude are temporarily suspended.

The drill that turned deadly

The fatal incident unfolded during a so-called funicular crossing—basically a rope-bridge strung low over fast water—a hallmark of Portugal’s elite Commando and Ranger programmes. Although instructors reported “standard safety measures” were in place, the winter flow of the Balsemão was running high after heavy rainfall, creating a powerful current capable of dragging a fully-equipped soldier. At 23:39 the trainee vanished from the instructors’ line of sight; by midnight, more than 40 rescuers were scouring both banks with thermal cameras and drones.

How the investigation will unfold

Under Portuguese law, any non-natural death in uniform triggers two parallel tracks:

A criminal probe led by the Public Prosecutor and executed by the PJM, which can take several months while autopsy and forensic data are analysed.

An administrative inquiry ordered by the Chief of Staff to determine whether training protocols, weather checks and equipment logs were properly observed.

Officials familiar with past cases say the PJM will look at command decisions, the choice of location, risk assessments on river conditions and the availability of safety spotters or backup lines. Should negligence be proven, Article 259 of the Military Justice Code allows penalties ranging from reprimands to prison sentences.

Support on the ground—and on paper

The Army’s Delegado de Apoio à Família reached Mafra before dawn on Tuesday, arranging a military funeral and activating psychological counselling for relatives and fellow trainees. Depending on final findings, the family could receive a “pensão de preço de sangue”—roughly €1 600 a month—plus lump-sum insurance under Decree-Law 466/99. Veterans’ groups stress that paperwork often drags on for a year or more, even when fault is clear, something lawmakers have vowed to review after previous incidents.

A broader safety record under scrutiny

Eleven Portuguese service members have died on domestic duty since 2016, according to publicly available MoD data. Accidents range from a C-130 crash in Montijo to mishaps at the Santa Margarida training area. Unions and opposition MPs, notably the Bloco de Esquerda, argue that climate change is making river and mountain drills riskier, yet safety protocols have barely been updated. The Defence Ministry counters that fatality rates remain “well below NATO averages”, but concedes that each death “erodes public confidence” in the armed forces.

What comes next

Investigators have up to 90 days to file a preliminary report, though precedent suggests the full dossier may not surface until midsummer. Only then will the Operações Especiais course in Penude resume. In the meantime, defence committees in Lisbon’s Assembleia are preparing hearings where commanders must explain how a promising young officer was left without a second line, in a flooded river, on a January night.

For a country that expects much from its volunteer soldiers—and is increasingly proud of their role in NATO missions—the answers cannot come soon enough. The uniform, after all, belongs to all of us who rely on those who wear it.