Canada: Rescuers Hope to Find Survivors of Spanish Fishing Boat Shipwreck Carrying Peruvians

Rescuers said Tuesday they were hopeful of finding more survivors of a Spanish fishing boat that capsized Monday night off the east coast of Canada while bad weather has complicated the search.

“The fact that we have already found three survivors in a lifeboat gives us hope that others have been able to put on their survival suits, get into the lifeboats and get off the ship,” Brian Owens, a spokesman for the Canada Joint Rescue Coordination Center.

The three survivors were found in a lifeboat and were in the process of being taken to a hospital, it added.

The fishing boat had 22 crew members. At least four of them died and another 15 remain missing, according to the Spanish government.

The boat sank and has not yet been found.

Canadian rescue services deployed a helicopter, a military aircraft, a Coast Guard ship and several boats for the search, which was deployed about 250 nautical miles (about 450 km) east of St. John’s, Newfoundland province. easternmost part of Canada.

“The weather right now is complicating our search. The waves are about four meters high and visibility is reduced to about a quarter of a nautical mile,” explained Owens.

However, the search “will continue regardless of the weather.”

The alert was given shortly after midnight local time.

Hundreds of miles from Newfoundland are several offshore oil platforms, including Hibernia — the world’s largest offshore platform — which rescuers say “is used as a refueling station for our planes.”