Sixteen
people - 15 Spanish nationals and one German - were on board the
vessel, which had sailed from the Spanish port of La Coruna.
Nine members of the vessel's crew were airlifted by
Coastguard rescue helicopter `Mike Uniform' to Benbecula in the
Western Isles, but seven people are feared dead. The chances of
finding anyone else alive in the freezing waters were slim.
A Royal Naval helicopter and an Irish search and rescue
helicopter also joined the rescue effort.
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Earlier in the evening there had been a faint mayday signal
heard, which produced no response when Coastguard attempted to
return the call. There was no follow up signal or response
indicating where the vessel was or what the problem might be.
The receiving station at Malin Head had also
picked up that signal.
Four passing merchant vessels went to the scene, three Norwegian
and one British. The 'British Pride', the 'SKS Torres', the
`Weston', and the `Siboelf’, which were in the sea area where
the distress signal emanated from.
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Mark Clark, spokesperson for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency
said, "Nine people were airlifted out of the water and
seven are still missing.
He added, "The nine who were recovered were all in a
life-raft, and were all suffering from hypothermia. Some were
wearing survival suits and some were not.
"They had been in the water for at least four hours and
it is looking quite grim for the seven still missing."
John Griffiths, District Controller at Clyde Coastguard said,
" The Canadian aircraft initially reported sighting a flare
and a strobe light in area. When the Nimrod aircraft arrived on
scene they immediately reported seeing two life rafts in the
water, and the Coastguard helicopter was directed straight to
the scene and winched the nine men to safety as soon as they
arrived in the area.
" The search is continuing for the remaining missing seven
men with the Nimrod aircraft and Navy helicopter over flying the
scene along with the Irish search and rescue helicopter from
Shannon. It is intended that the Coastguard helicopter will also
return to the scene.
The weather is moderate seas locally with southeasterly winds
of 38 knots, and 15-foot seas.
