Madrid, February 15, 2022 (AFP) – At least seven people were killed and 14 others missing after a Spanish fishing boat sank Monday night off the Canadian coast.
“We have recovered seven dead and three survivors,” Brian Owens of the Canadian Rescue Coordination Center told AFP.
He added that the search continued despite bad weather in the area off Terranova, an island off the northeastern coast of Canada where the Galician boat “Villa de Betanxo” sank.
When the ship sank, it was carrying 24 people: 16 Spaniards, five Peruvians and three Ghanaians.
The head of the regional government of Galicia, Alberto Nunez Vigo, confirmed that “seven dead people have arrived, three of them alive on a ferry and the rest are missing.”
Specialists sent to Terranova on Tuesday had hoped to find more survivors from this boat in the port of Marin, in Galicia, the Atlantic region in northwest Spain.
“The fact that we found three survivors on a lifeboat gives us hope that others will be able to put on life-suits, get on the lifeboats and get off the boat,” Owens said.
He added that the seven survivors, whose nationalities were not revealed, were found in a boat and were about to be taken to hospital.
– Weather makes searches difficult – Canadian rescue services provided a helicopter, military aircraft, a Coast Guard boat and several search boats.
“The weather at the moment is complicating our searches. The waves are about four meters high and visibility is reduced by about a quarter of a nautical mile,” Owens explained.
He stressed that the search operations “will continue regardless of the weather.”
The National Center for Coordination of Rescue Operations in Madrid, which helps Spanish boats sailing in international waters, received the first warning from the “Villa de Pitanxo” at 5:24 Madrid time and, after not contacting the ship, mobilized two boats. Which was close, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Transport.
One of them, the Playa Mendoía dos – another Spanish fishing boat – was the one who “located three people on one of the boats and several bodies”, the ministry said, after it was able to approach it around 10:37 am in Madrid. Time (02:37 AM Brasilia Time).).
The causes of the drowning are still unknown.
– “It’s a tragedy” – Spanish government spokeswoman Isabel Rodriguez said at a press conference after the cabinet meeting that the Spanish government “is following with concern and concern the search and rescue of the crew.”
She also confirmed that the Spanish authorities continue to contact their Canadian counterparts to facilitate the device.
“The government remains in constant contact with the rescue services,” the head of government, Pedro Sanchez, said on Twitter, sending all his “love” to the families of the crew.
Galician Labor Minister Yolanda Diaz also said on Twitter that she was “shocked” by the tragedy.
“Bad news is coming from the other side of the Atlantic. Dead and missing crew members have been reported,” he added.
Pontevedra’s mayor, Miguel Anxo Llores, also expressed his concern on the same social network and said he “expects more news soon” about what happened on the ship.
“The first reports indicate the presence of crew members from nearby locations,” he said.
The “Villa de Pintanxo”, a fifty-meter vessel flying the Spanish flag, belongs to the fishing group “Gull”.
Founded in 1950, this company has eight refrigerated vessels, 300 employees and is present in 60 countries around the world, according to its website.
The group did not respond to attempts to contact AFP.
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