Spanish fishing boat sinks off Canada; 4 dead, 15 missing

A Spanish fishing boat sank on Tuesday off Newfoundland, in eastern Cana, killing at least four people, Spain's maritime rescue service said. Three crew members were rescued and 15 ors were missing. Search operations were ongoing to locate or members of 22-strong crew of sunken vessel, Spanish government spokeswoman Isabel Rodríguez said, ding that authorities were following incident “with concern.” A Canian helicopter h reached area, which is about 450 kilometers (280 miles) off island of Newfoundland, and a rescue vessel was on way to site, a spokeswoman of Spanish rescue service said.

boat, called Villa de Pitanxo, operates out of northwest Spain's Galicia region and sank around 0600 GMT (1 am EST) in rough seas, regional representative of Spanish government, Maica Larriba, told Spanish public rio. She said that crew included 12 Spaniards, eight Peruvians and two from Ghana.

A Spanish fishing boat working not far from site was first to arrive in area and found three survivors and four bodies in one of four lifeboats of fishing vessel, Spanish rescue center's spokeswoman said. Two of emergency boats were empty and fourth was reportedly unaccounted for, Larriba said.

spokeswoman, who wasn't authorised to be named in media reports, said that rescue center in Mrid received first alert from Villa de Pitanxo and was coordinating response with a Canian rescue center based in Halifax. boat's owner didn't immediately reply to written questions about incident.