THE FAMILY of a woman who drowned on holiday in Portugal have condemned the lack of signs warning people against the “dangerous” waters.

Mother-of-two Priscilla Yoganayagam, of Dale Gardens, Woodford Green, went on a minibreak to Lisbon with her husband Clement and daughter Nicola last October when she died in rough seas.

East London Coroner’s Court heard how the trio decided to stop off at the beach in the small fishing village of Nazare.

A statement written by her husband explained how after parking the car around 3.15pm he waited by the promenade while his 58-year-old wife and their daughter walked down to the beach. 

The 64-year-old said: “The sea wasn’t very calm, but it wasn’t really rough either.

“There were no signs anywhere warning of any dangers, so I sat down while Priscilla and Nicola went to dip their feet in the water.”

At around 4pm Nicola went back to the car so she could take photos of the beach with her mobile phone.

She took a shot with her mum in the background before she fell out of her sight behind one of the beach’s slopes.

The 24-year-old carried on taking photos of other parts of the beach for around 10 minutes, before she went back to find her mother.

When she got back to the shoreline she could not see her anywhere – but thought she had just gone exploring.

She said: “The last thing she said to me was to go and get my phone and come back and find her.

“I thought she’d just gone for a walk or to one of the beach huts – so I didn’t think anything of it.”

But when it started raining and there was still no sign of her an hour or so later the pair started to worry and went looking at a nearby beach bar.

Searching the bar, the toilets, and beach changing rooms to no avail, they raised the alarm with a missing person’s appeal around 5.15pm, they told Coroner Nadia Persaud.

Shortly afterwards the manager of the bar where Nicola sheltered from the rain got a call from the police saying some fishermen had found a woman’s body out to sea.

Mr Yoganayagam said he "knew immediately it was her.”

Doctors tried to perform CPR on Mrs Yoganayagam but she was pronounced dead just after 7pm.

Mrs Persaud agreed with the post-mortem examination, which gave cause of death as accidental drowning.

Paying tribute to his wife, who worked as a NHS biomedical scientist for 32 years, Mr Yoganayagam said she was “caring and devoted mother who always wanted the best for her children”. 

Her daughter Nicola maintains the beach was “dangerous” and more should have been done to warn people against going there.

She said: “A five-year-old girl and her granddad died at the same beach five years ago.

“There was a surfing competition on the morning we went, and they recorded some of the largest waves ever.

“It’s a dangerous beach and there were no coastguards. There should have been signs to warn us. There’s absolutely no excuse for there not to be.”