According to the National Maritime Authority (AMN), the body was found on 21 December afternoon by elements of the Maritime Police (PM), during a patrol, “on land, about a kilometre north of the International Bridge of the Guadiana, but in Spanish territory”.

In a statement, AMN indicated that the first evidence points to the body belonging to the Moldovan fisherman who disappeared on 13 December, off the Guadiana River, next to Foz de Odeleite, in the municipality of Castro Marim, in the district of Faro.

According to AMN, the Spanish authorities were “contacted immediately to take care of the occurrence and transport the body to be autopsied, since it is in Spanish territory.

On the day of the disappearance, the captain of the port of Vila Real de Santo António told Lusa News Agency that the causes of the disappearance of the man in the waters of the river, "had not yet been made clear".

According to Rui Vasconcelos de Andrade, the alert was given by two other men who accompanied him "spending the day in the area" and "doing recreational fishing".

"What we do know is that one of them ended up in the water and the others gave the warning," he added, stressing that the authorities were investigating the circumstances in which the man went into the water and was no longer seen.

In the days following the disappearance, several Portuguese and Spanish teams and media were involved in the search operations.