(Madrid) Spain was in mourning on Wednesday the day after the sinking of one of its trawlers which left 10 dead and 11 missing off the coast of Canada, the greatest tragedy for almost 40 years for the Spanish fishing sector .
Posted at 6:54 a.m.
Updated at 7:00 a.m.
“Once again, the people of the sea are hit hard” by a tragedy, underlined Alberto Núñez Feijóo, president of the region of Galicia (North-West), from which the “Villa de Pitanxo” came. who disappeared Tuesday morning 450 kilometers off the coast of Newfoundland.
“Galicia is a big family and when a family is struck by a tragic event, they come together in pain to seek comfort”, he added, announcing “three days of mourning” in the region in tribute “to those who lost their lives” in the sinking.
In Madrid, the Spanish deputies observed a minute of silence in the hemicycle. “Spain is waking up in shock this morning,” insisted the President of Parliament, Socialist Meritxell Batet.
A total of 24 crew members were on board the 50-meter-long trawler based in the small port of Marín, Galicia, when it sank around 12:30 a.m. locally on Tuesday.
Worst tragedy since 1984
Among them, three were rescued, ten were found dead and eleven others are still wanted, according to Canadian relief. The three survivors, whose nationality was not specified, were evacuated by helicopter in a state of hypothermia.
This accident is “the greatest tragedy for 38 years” for the Spanish fishing sector, underlined the Spanish Minister of Fisheries, Luis Planas, in reference to the sinking of the trawler “Islamar III”, which had caused 26 deaths offshore of the Spanish archipelago of the Canary Islands in July 1984.
According to Mr. Planas, eight ships are currently mobilized in the area of the sinking to try to find the missing. Among them are “Spanish and Portuguese fishing boats” and vessels belonging to “Canadian authorities”, he said.
The hope of finding alive the 11 missing in the icy waters of the Atlantic was still extremely weak on Wednesday.
“The weather at the moment is complicating our search,” Brian Owens, Canadian spokesperson for the rescue and coordination centre, told AFP, who mobilized a plane and two helicopters to the area. The latter specified that the search would continue, “whatever the weather”.
According to Spanish sea rescue, rescuers are faced with “waves of six to seven meters”, which “make operations difficult”. “Visibility is reduced to about a quarter of a nautical mile,” said Brian Owens.
“We just want to know”
In Galicia, the families of the sailors present on the “Villa de Pitanxo” anxiously awaited information on the identity of the victims.
“We just want to know if he’s alive or dead. Give us the names,” implored Carlos Ordóñez, assuring the Galician daily La Voz de Galicia that he was still awaiting news of his nephew William Arévalo.
“You know what happens when you fall into waters like Newfoundland. Survival is only a matter of minutes,” he lamented.
According to the Spanish authorities, the crew consisted of 16 Spaniards, five Peruvians and three Ghanaians. Many of the Spanish sailors came from Galicia, the leading region in Europe and second in the world for the production of canned fish and shellfish.
According to the local authorities, 44,000 people depend on the fishing sector in this region, which concentrates 20% of European fish production, and where 10% of the fresh fish sent to the EU transits.