"We were alerted in the afternoon [11 January] to the appearance of a body, a surfer saw the body floating, and it was up to the elements of the Leixões Lifeguard station to remove it and hand it over to the PJ [Judiciary Police], which are investigating", said Rui Santos Amaral.

The occurrence was recorded at around 4:30pm on Praia do Titan, in Matosinhos.

According to the same source, "a connection was immediately established with the situation of a Brazilian citizen who has been missing since the beginning of the year".

"It corresponds in age [31 years] and [Brazilian] nationality to a case that PJ is investigating," added the captain of the Port of Leixões.

The Lusa agency contacted PJ, which confirmed that it was investigating.

"It is reported that for obvious reasons of procedural interest, no clarification can be given about ongoing police investigations," the PJ source told Lusa.

The Jornal de Notícias reported that searches were underway on Matosinhos beach for the personal belongings of Angelita, 31, a Brazilian, transsexual, who had disappeared after being left unreachable in the early hours of 2 January