Portugal's Baywatch equivalent - ISN - the country's beach lifeguards have complained that nobody heeds their warnings about the dangers of swimming off the beaches which they patrol.

In spite of newly-introduced fines for those entering the water in violation of the regulations in force as indicated by the colour of the flag hoisted by the lifeguards, users of the country's beaches are still entering the water when there are red or yellow flags flying.

There have already been 21 deaths off Portugal's beaches this year the same number as for the whole of 2005.

For your safety it is important to remember that only surfers with surf-boards may enter the water when yellow or red flags are flying. A checked black and white flag means the beach is unsupervised at that time.