Canada ends sea search for missing crew members of Spanish fishing boat

The Canadian government has called off the search for the missing crew members of the Villa de Pitanxo saying conditions, including wind gusts of up to 72 kilometres per hour, temperatures of seven degrees below zero, a wind chill of -17, snow, ice sheets and waves five metres high, means that the missing crew members are "lost at sea." The decision was taken jointly with the Spanish government.

The operation to find the missing crew of the ill-fated fishing vessel was led by the Halifax Joint Rescue Coordination Centre, with the collaboration of the Canadian National Guard and Spanish and Portuguese fishing vessels.

The Villa de Pitanxo, from Marín in Spain’s Pontevedra region, sank on the morning of 15 February in the waters of Newfoundland when it was fishing about 250 miles from the coast.

On the Grupo Nores-owned vessel there were 22 sailors, 12 Spaniards, eight Peruvians and two Ghanaians. Three sailors, Juan Padín, 53, his nephew Eduardo Rial, 42, and an unidentified third person are the only survivors of the Villa de Pitanxo sinking.

Among those lost in the tragedy is Juan Antonio Cordero Coro, 55, from Lepe in Huelva. The Andalusian sailor was due to retire in a few months. He was married with two children.