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Search ends for survivors from sunken Spanish fishing vessel

MADRID (AP) – Canadian rescuers called off the search for 12 missing crew members from a Spanish fishing vessel that sank in rough seas off Newfoundland.

The Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Halifax, Canada, announced on Wednesday it was suspending the “exhaustive search” by aircraft and vessels that retrieved nine bodies from the water and rescued three survivors found in a lifeboat.

The centre reported rough seas and some fog in the area where the 50-metre Villa de Pitanxo sank in the dark on Tuesday.

The vessel operated out of northeast Spain’s Galicia region, where Spanish Fisheries Minister Luis Planas met with families of the dead yesterday.

Planas called the sinking the “worst tragedy for our fishing fleet in 38 years”.

The Villa de Pitanxo went down some 460 kilometres east of Newfoundland.

Planas and local fishing officials described the boat as “modern” and designed to withstand the typically harsh weather of the area.

The crew included 16 Spaniards, five Peruvians and three workers from Ghana, according to Spain’s maritime rescue service.

A view from a search aircraft over the Atlantic Ocean off Newfoundland. PHOTO: AP
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