§ Mr. Ennalsasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what inquiries have been made about the series of deaths that have occurred of British tourists in the Algarve, Portugal, from butane gas poisoning; what has been the outcome of these inquiries; and whether he will now make a statement.
§ Mr. HurdThe British embassy in Lisbon contacted the Portuguese authorities on 18 January this year to ask what action was being taken to investigate these deaths. They were told that an inspector had been sent to the Algarve to investigate and report as soon as possible.
On 28 March the Portuguese Secretaries of State for Energy and Tourism announced the establishment of a special commission to supervise measures concerning the installation and checking of gas equipment in designated tourist apartment blocks. The commission was to present monthly reports on progress.
On 18 April the Portuguese Secretary of State for Tourism announced that by mid-April 22 tourist complexes and 2,600 units of accommodation had been checked.
Two other investigations by the Public Prosecutor in Faro and by the Institute of Legal Medicine in Lisbon are proceeding. The Portuguese authorities will inform the British embassy of the outcome. They have already sent the embassy a report on individual apartments written by the Portuguese National Laboratories and Civil Engineering, and copies of these are being sent to those interested.