Spanish Port Devastated By Canada Shipwreck Tragedy

Flags at half-mast, black ribbons everywhere and families devastated by grief: the Spanish port town of Marin was left reeling after a deadly shipwreck left 21 sailors dead or missing at sea

Marin, Spain, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Feb, 2022 ) :Flags at half-mast, black ribbons everywhere and families devastated by grief: the Spanish port town of Marin was left reeling after a deadly shipwreck left 21 sailors dead or missing at sea.

The fishing trawler which sank off eastern Canada early on Tuesday was based in this small port in Spain's northwestern Galicia region and several members of its 24-strong crew lived here.

"All our solidarity with the Villa de Pitanxo" reads a huge banner strung up along the main road, referring to the vessel which went down 250 nautical miles east of Newfoundland in Spain's worst fishing tragedy in nearly 40 years.

Onboard were 16 Spaniards, five Peruvians and three Ghanaians.

Only three survived, two Spaniards and a Ghanaian national.

Rescuers have only managed to recover nine bodies, leaving 12 missing, presumed drowned, with the Canadian authorities ending their rescue operation on Wednesday evening after an "exhaustive" 36-hour search in which they combed 900 nautical square miles.

The news caused further anguish for the families, who begged them to continue.

"We have to keep looking for the bodies, we can't leave 12 people stranded at sea!" said John Okutu, whose Ghanaian uncle Edemon Okutu is among the missing.

"If Canada can't keep on looking, the Spanish must go, that's what the families want," he told journalists in Marin.

Galician regional leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo also urged the authorities in Spain and Canada to resume the search, at least for another 24 hours.

"There are many missing bodies and they deserve a final effort," he told reporters.