Three months after the sinking of the fishing vessel Villa de Pitanxo in the waters of Newfoundland, where 21 sailors died, the tragedy once again shakes the Galician deep-sea fleet. In the early hours of today, the trawler Piedras, owned by a Galician company but flying the English flag, gave the SOS signal due to a leak that threatened to sink the vessel in the waters of Gran Sol, when it was fishing 64 miles southwest of Cape Mizen, in Ireland. Gran Sol is one of the most dangerous deep-sea fishing grounds, between the 48th and 60th parallels of the North Atlantic.
The Piedras left the port of Marín (Pontevedra) on May 16, with 11 sailors on board. At this time, according to sources from the Galician port authority, nine of them are sheltered on the ship Armaven Uno, also flying the English flag and safe. The skipper, Jorge Otero Míguez, and the chief engineer, José Antonio Farto García, were on the wrecked trawler until two hours ago. They were trying to keep the ship afloat. Both have been rescued by rescue teams. The ship was heavily listed as they were unable to bail out the water that entered through the crack in the hull.
The Piedras unloaded yesterday in the port of Castletownbere (southwest of Ireland) fishing for one of the tides. The merchandise that tonight will be in the auction of the Lonja de Vigo. He came out hours after the discharge and shortly after gave the distress signal.
The crew, safe, is made up of Ángel Lardín Muradas, the Moroccan Said Ennouaim, the cook of Spanish nationality Ebenezer Nii Agye Tawaiah, the boatswain also of Spanish nationality Rachid Farrah Zazoul, Lahcen Essalmi Frache, the Ghanaian sailors Justice Komson and Joe Baidu, Lorenzo Marco Romero Velázquez and the Moroccan Omar Nessasi. Rescue teams are already in the area.
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