16 February 2022

Three more bodies found after fishing boat sinks off Newfoundland

16 February 2022

Canadian rescuers have located three more bodies from a Spanish fishing boat that sank in rough seas off Newfoundland, taking the death toll to 10.

Efforts continue to find the 11 remaining crew members who were lost in the eastern Atlantic when the ship went down on Tuesday. Three members were rescued alive.

The Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, confirmed the recovery of the three additional bodies.

“Our thoughts go out to all the families of this crew,” the rescue centre said on Twitter.

The rescue centre, operated by Canada’s air force and coastguard, dispatched helicopters, planes and a rescue vessel to the area, 280 miles off the island of Newfoundland.

The 164ft fishing boat named Villa de Pitanxo, which operated out of north-west Spain’s Galicia region, sank in the dark early on Tuesday morning, tossing its 24 crew members into icy seas.

Another Spanish fishing boat working not far from the site was the first to arrive. It found three survivors and four bodies in one of the fishing boat’s four lifeboats, officials said.

Two of the lifeboats were empty and the fourth was reportedly unaccounted for.

The crew was made up of 16 Spaniards, five Peruvians and three from Ghana, according to Spain’s maritime rescue service.

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