BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A fishing boat carrying 27 people sank nearly 200 miles (320 kilometers) off the coast of the Falkland Islands, British and Spanish maritime officials said Tuesday, leaving at least six people dead and seven missing.
Fourteen people made it onto a life raft and were rescued by two other fishing boats that were nearby when the 176-foot (54-meter) vessel, called the Argos Georgia, sank in the South Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Argentina, Spanish authorities said.
Spain's Pontevedra province in southeastern Galicia, identified 10 of the crew members as Spaniards. They declined to comment on the condition of crew members because relatives were still being notified. But on social media platform X, the provincial government identified one of the dead as the ship's cook from the northwestern town of Baiona, and said there were several other nationalities among the crew.
The Falkland Islands — the British-controlled archipelago that Argentina calls the Islas Malvinas and claims as its own — said it had received an emergency signal on Monday from the Argos Georgia.
The signal indicated that the boat was east of Stanley, the capital of the Falkland Islands, when it began taking on water. At the time, the ship was sailing at a speed of 35 knots per hour, according to monitoring site MarineTraffic.com.
A helicopter, another aircraft and several vessels were deployed in the rescue effort. The Falkland Islands government reported that the helicopter crew had spotted survivors stranded at sea on Monday but was soon forced to suspend rescue operations due to rough water, reduced visibility and windy conditions. The efforts resumed when the storm subsided Tuesday.
The Argos Georgia is managed by Argos Froyanes Ltd, a privately-owned joint British-Norwegian company, and was sailing under the flag of St Helena, another of Britain’s remaining overseas territories in the South Atlantic.
“Our crew members are true professionals and have regular training for such a situation,” the company said in a statement. “We trust in their ability to use the safety equipment to the best of their ability.”
The boat was built in 2018, according to Vesselfinder, a website for tracking marine traffic.
Britain and Argentina went to war over the Falkland Islands in 1982, when Argentine troops embarked on an ill-fated invasion that killed 649 Argentines and 255 British soldiers.
The Associated Press