Spain was mourning on Wednesday for its worst fishing tragedy in almost 40 years: the shipwreck in the frigid waters of Newfoundland, Canada, of the Galician ship “Villa de Pitanxo”, which left 10 dead and 11 missing whose search continues.
It is “one of the worst maritime tragedies in recent times,” lamented the president of Galicia, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who announced an official three-day mourning in this region of northwestern Spain in tribute to the victims.
“We are an autonomous community marked by sad events related to the world of the sea. We are the leading fishing power in the European Union, and therefore our risks are greater than any other European place or region,” Feijóo recalled, alluding to the strong Galician fishing tradition.
The ship was based in the port of Marín, in Pontevedra, where hours of pain and anguish were experienced this Wednesday.
“We just want to know if he is alive or dead. Give us the names, we already know what happens when you fall into waters like those of Newfoundland. Survival is a matter of minutes,” Carlos Ordóñez, who awaits news of his nephew William Arévalo.
In Madrid, the Congress of Deputies observed a minute of silence.
In total, 24 people were aboard the “Villa de Pitanxo” when it disappeared on Tuesday around 04:30 GMT (00:30 local time) 450 kilometers southeast of Newfoundland.
According to the Spanish authorities, the crew was made up of 16 Spaniards, five Peruvians and three Ghanaians.
Of them, three were rescued, ten found dead and eleven are still missing, according to Canadian rescue services.
The three survivors suffered from hypothermia and were evacuated by helicopter. Their nationalities were not officially released.
Eight ships and air assets
The Spanish Minister of Fisheries, Luis Planas, lamented “the greatest tragedy in the fishing sector that we have had practically in the last 38 years”, referring to the sinking of the “Islamar III” in the waters of the Canary Islands, an event that left 26 dead in July 1984.
According to Planas, eight boats are mobilized in the area to try to find the disappeared.
“They are Spanish and Portuguese fishing vessels, but also from the Canadian authorities,” the minister explained.
In addition, Canada put aerial means, although the hopes of finding alive the eleven disappeared in the icy waters of the Atlantic were scarce.
According to the last part of the Spanish Maritime Salvage, the waves reached between 6 and 7 meters.
“The weather at the moment is complicating our search,” Brian Owens, of the Canadian Rescue Coordination Center, told AFP on Tuesday, guaranteeing that the operation “will continue regardless of the weather.”
Galicia concentrates more than 10% of fresh fish landings in the EU and contributes 20% of European aquaculture production, being the first European region and the second in the world in the production of canned fish and shellfish, according to data from the regional government .
Newfoundland has been a place for cod fishing for centuries, mainly for the Spanish and Portuguese.
“It is an area and a fishing ground of immense value, of great value, but also with very important climatic difficulties,” explained Minister Planes, specifying that the “Villa de Pitanxo” concentrated on the capture of hake, rays and halibut.
