Nine dead and four missing after fishing boat capsizes off Falkland Islands

Argentinian Navy says strong winds and waves damaged vessel and caused water to rapidly fill the hull

Nine people are dead and four missing after a fishing boat capsized in the South Atlantic about 200 nautical miles off the coast of the Falkland Islands.

Emergency teams were still searching for the missing in the turbulent waters late on Tuesday after the Argos Georgia, a Saint Helena-flagged fishing vessel, experienced “uncontrolled flooding” the previous evening.

The crew of 27 abandoned the ship and many managed to board life rafts, with 14 rescued as of Wednesday morning. Four people remain missing, according to the owner of the fishing vessel, while nine have been confirmed dead.

The Falkland Islands government said the vessel requested assistance at around 4pm local time on Monday.

But a rescue operation was thwarted by “extremely challenging weather conditions and very limited time on scene due to range”, it said.

While the Falkland Islands are under British control, Argentina claims the archipelago as its territory and refers to it as Las Malvinas.

The Argentinian Navy reported that strong winds and waves had damaged the vessel, causing water to rapidly fill the hull.

Authorities in Spain’s Pontevedra province said 10 of the crew members were from the country, including the captain. Other crew members were reportedly from Russia, Indonesia, Uruguay, and Peru.

The Falkland Islands government said the rescued sailors were taken to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital in the capital, Stanley.

The 176ft Argos Georgia, built in 2018, was managed by Argos Froyanes Ltd, a private British-Norwegian company.

It was sailing under the flag of St Helena, one of Britain’s overseas territories in the South Atlantic.

“Our crew members are true professionals and have regular training for such a situation,” the company said in a statement quoted by the Associated Press.

“We trust in their ability to use the safety equipment to the best of their ability.”

In response to the distress call from the Argos Georgia, British authorities said they dispatched boats and a helicopter, with no mention of coordination with Argentina.

The Falkland Islands is a British overseas territory in the South Atlantic (AFP via Getty)

The Argentine Navy independently said it received the vessel’s distress call and “assumed management of the search-and-rescue case”. Argentina said its maritime authorities coordinated the deployment of fishing boats to the life rafts “to rescue survivors despite extreme weather conditions”, according to the Associated Press.

Britain won territorial rights within about 200 miles of the archipelago following its victory over Argentina in the Falklands War of 1982, a conflict that has strained relations between the two countries ever since.

“This accident highlights the harshness of fishing activity and the sacrifice and risk that sea professionals experience,” Carmen Crespo, chair of the Committee on Fisheries for the European Parliament, said in a statement on Tuesday.

Additional reporting by agencies