A Spanish fishing boat sank just off Newfoundland, Canada, killing at least seven people. A search was launched to rescue the missing crew members; three people, in total, were spotted and saved from a lifeboat.
The 50-meter-long fishing boat, which was named Villa de Pitanxo, sank in the dark, according to Spain’s regional representative Maica Larriba. The 24-member crew that was onboard the now sunken vessel included 16 Spaniards, 5 Peruvians, and 3 Ghanaians. Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the head of Galicia’s regional government, stated that the Spanish ambassador to Canada told him that a total of seven bodies had been found at the time. When speaking to reporters, he said, “The sea was very bad.”
Confirmed survivors include the boat’s skipper, 53, and his nephew, 42. The two men got in touch with their families via telephone.
The signal from the fishing boat’s onboard data recorder, which is used to track vessels, stopped transmitting at around 06:00 GMT. A rescue center, located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, dispatched airplanes, helicopters, and a rescue vessel to the area, which is about 280 miles off Newfoundland’s coast.
Lt. Cmdr. Brain Owens, the rescue center’s spokesperson, stated high winds, fog, and heavy seas were hampering the search. Owens mentioned that three Cormorant helicopters were going over the search area.
Another Spanish fishing boat, which was not far from the site of the sinking, arrived first on the scene and rescued three survivors as well as four bodies from a lifeboat. One lifeboat from the sunken skip is still missing, and two others were empty.
Grupo Nores, the company that owns the ship, did not reply to calls. According to the company’s website, the group operates fishing fleets in the waters off Canada, Argentina, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, and the North Sea.