The Spanish trawler, Villa de Pitanxo, sunk during last night, 250 nautical miles off Newfoundland in a fishing ground belonging to the North Atlantic Fishing Organisation.

The ship was based in Marín (Pontevedra, Galicia) and had a crew of 24 onboard; 18 of whom were Spanish, four Peruvians and two from Ghana.

The ship’s Emergency, position-indicating, radio beacon began transmitting close to six in the morning and other ships in the area, as well as Canadian, maritime-rescue helicopters, raced to the last-known location and came across the life rafts

Two of the rafts were empty and the third had three survivors onboard, one of whom was the skipper who has many years experience of fishing in those waters. In the fourth there were bodies of fishermen who had died from hypothermic shock.

One of the trawlers that reacted to the emergency was the Playa de Menduiña, which hails from the same fishing port. Others were a Portuguese trawler, the Novo Virgem da Barca and the Spanish trawler, El Río Caxil.

(News: Spain)