Canadian maritime authorities have given up the search for the remaining missing crew that were aboard the Spanish fishing vessel, Villa de Pitanxo, when it sank on Tuesday.
The Canadian Coast Guard said it had found three survivors and recovered the bodies of ten crew members who had died when the vessel went down off the coast of Newfoundland.
According to Spanish maritime authority Salvamento Marítimo, the crew of the fishing vessel comprised 16 Spaniards, five Peruvians and three Ghanaians.
“Just after midnight, JRCC was advised of an EPIRB signal from a fishing vessel, approximately 250NM east of St John’s NL. A CH149 Cormorant Helicopter, a C130 Hercules Aircraft, the CCGS Cygnus, and multiple vessels of opportunity were tasked to assist,” the Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC) in Halifax posted on Twitter.
The Playa Menduiña Dos and Novo Virgem da Barcawere were also dispatched to assist with the search in rough waters.
“The fishing vessel has not been found. Searchers have found three survivors in a life raft and regrettably the remains of four others.
The search continues for the remaining crew and we hold out hope that we will find them,” the JRCC said on Tuesday.
However, they recovered a further three bodies on Wednesday before the search for the remaining crew was called off on Thursday.
“Regrettably, at 4 pm AST, based on the results of the exhaustive search by a significant number of SAR aircraft and vessels over the last 36+ hours, a search covering over 900 sq NM, the search for the 12 missing fishers aboard the FV Villa de Pitanxo has been suspended,” the JRCC said on Thursday.
