UPDATE: Submersible robot deployed in search for missing fisherman from sunken ‘Vilaboa Uno’ off Santander coast

A search is ongoing for a fisherman still missing after the ‘Vilaboa Uno’ sunk off Cabo Mayor on the coast of Santander with a submersible robot deployed.

UPDATE: Friday, April 7 at 02:57am

The search continues off the coast of Santander for Walter Ferreiro, the missing Peruvian fisherman from the sunken vessel ‘Vilaboa Uno’. As reported by laopiniondemalaga.es, a submersible robot was deployed this Thursday, April 6, by the Spanish Maritime Rescue Service.

Reanudada con la primera luz del día la búsqueda del tripulante del VILABOA UNO desaparecido tras su hundimiento.
Coordinado por nuestro centro #Santander se hallan en zona salvamar Deneb y patrullera Río Aller + helicóptero Cuco @guardiacivil que será relevado por helimer 202. pic.twitter.com/rx1TRA9Pld

— SALVAMENTO MARÍTIMO (@salvamentogob) April 6, 2023

4 día de búsqueda del marinero desaparecido por el naufragio del #VilanoaUno. Esta mañana, el robot de la Unidad de Actividades Subacuáticas de la @GuardiaCivil ha tocado fondo a 130 metros aproximadamente y tratará de localizar el pecio pic.twitter.com/LMGaXVW09A

— Guardia Civil (@guardiacivil) April 6, 2023

The first robot used, belonging to the Guardia Civil’s Underwater Activities Unit hit the bottom of the sea earlier this Thursday at a depth of 130 metres, but without finding the wreck. It went down about six miles from the city of Santander. According to the authorities, the operation has been hampered by difficult sea conditions and strong currents.

En respuesta a petición judicial, nuestro buque Don Inda y el ROV Comanche se suman al dispositivo de búsqueda del tripulante desaparecido del Vilaboa Uno.
Buque y robot submarino están en Ferrol haciendo los preparativos necesarios para unirse en días a la búsqueda en Santander. pic.twitter.com/e3hovdPWe8

— SALVAMENTO MARÍTIMO (@salvamentogob) April 6, 2023

Monday, April 3 at 9:02pm

Tragedy struck today, Monday, April 3, when the ‘Vilaboa Uno’ sank off the coast of Cabo Mayor in Santander. Two crew members are confirmed to have died while another is reported to be still missing. Another sailor is also seriously injured from the original crew of 10.

Seven members of the crew – of Spanish, Peruvian, Senegalese and Ghanaian nationality – were rescued alive from the Atlantic. One of them was seriously injured, having suffered severe hypothermia, but has already been discharged from the hospital.

Those who died from hypothermia were one from Santander and the other from Ghana, while the missing person is from Peru, as reported by 20minutos.

Pesquero VILABOA UNO con 10 tripulantes (6mn N Santander) con vía de agua. Finalmente se hunde. Movilizadas de inmediato embarcaciones en zona, Salvamar Deneb y Helimer 202. Rescatadas 7 personas con vida. Recuperados 2 fallecidos. Se busca a 1 tripulante. Coordina CCS Santander pic.twitter.com/nLpxprk6Aq

— SALVAMENTO MARÍTIMO (@salvamentogob) April 3, 2023

‘Vilaboa Uno’ sank in waters with a depth of 120 metres, which makes rescue work extremely difficult and makes it impossible, for the moment, for rescue divers to access it to check if the sailor is still inside. The bodies of the two deceased and the rescued fishermen have been transferred to the fishing port of Santander, pending the removal of their bodies.

Miguel Angel Revilla, the president of Cantabria, explained at a press conference that the missing crew member could be inside the boat due to the fishing boat sinking “very quickly”.

“I have spoken with the owner and he told me that it is more likely that he could be inside the ship because the sinking occurred very quickly”, he said. If confirmed: “it would make being able to rescue him much more complicated”, Revilla added.

Otra vez, una nueva desgracia en la Mar. Esta mañana a las 5:30 el Villaboa 1, con sede en Santander, ha naufragado frente a la costa de Cabo Mayor. Constaba de 10 tripulantes, 7 han sido rescatados hay un desaparecido y 2 fallecidos. DEP.

— Miguel Ángel Revilla (@RevillaMiguelA) April 3, 2023

According to El Diario Montañes, the ‘Vilaboa Uno’ fishing boat is a 27-metre-long and eight-metre-wide vessel built in 2000. Its crew had gone fishing for mackerel around midnight this Monday from the Port of Santander.

The events leading to the sinking occurred shortly after 4am. Specifically, the Santander Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre received a notice from the ship itself at 4:10am informing them that she had a leak and was sinking.

A radio beacon alert from the same vessel was received by the National Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Madrid at 4:21am. At the time of the incident, she was located some five miles from Cabo Mayor.

An intense search for the missing fisherman continued by sea and air. The operation was coordinated by Salvamento Maritimo. They were joined by helicopters from the Government of Cantabria and the Guardia Civil early this morning.

When the alert was received, all fishing and merchant vessels in the area were alerted. Later, a Helimer 202 helicopter, Salvamar Deneb and the tugboat Maria de Maeztu of Salvamento Maritimo joined in. They were subsequently joined by two fishing and merchant vessels that were in the area- These were the ‘Juan de la Cosa’ of the Social Marine Institute, and the patrol boat ‘Rio Aller’.

Also deployed were a Guardia Civil helicopter and fine-wing aircraft, the Civil Protection helicopter of the Government of Cantabria, and a pilot boat.

Los especialistas de #ServicioÁereo y #ServicioMarítimo de @GuardiaCivil buscan al tripulante desaparecido tras el hundimiento del pesquero #Villaboa1 pic.twitter.com/8IGi22FNwU

— Guardia Civil (@guardiacivil) April 3, 2023

Sources from the Santander Fishermen’s Association explained to the media that they do not understand what could have happened since the ship was not loaded and the sea was calm this morning. The Cantabrian president insisted that the event “apparently now has no explanation”.

“Water suddenly began to enter. Something has gone wrong with the ship or someone has not been attentive to the entry of water and the ship sank very quickly”, he pointed out. “None of the circumstances that normally give rise to these events has occurred”, he continued. “These are a very rough sea, a heavy sea, or a displacement of the cargo. In this case, the boat was empty, it was going to fish and with a good sea”, he reiterated.

Pedro Antonio Fernandez, the skipper of the ‘Siempre Necora’ was one of the first to come to the rescue of the crew of the ‘Vilaboa Uno’. He was in the vicinity when he received the distress call and headed straight to the location about 30 minutes away.

“I was able to save six of them and that’s a memory I’ll live with. They were in the water and we rescued seven men: one dead and six alive,” he explained to the press. “If I hadn’t arrived earlier, what would have happened? Because there were two dead, who knows what would have happened? At least I was able to save six, and that’s what I’ll take for granted”, he stressed.

Antonio ‘Peque’, a sailor from the other rescue boat ‘Siempre Necora’, explained that their crew was sleeping when they received the call for help. On arriving at the scene they saw “little lights and people asking for help”.

“We pulled them into the boat almost all at once, two of them with the crane because we couldn’t handle them. They didn’t let go of the deceased, they didn’t let go of him, I think he was already dead”, he said. “The other dead crew member, who was far from the scene, was rescued by the Santander pilots’ boat”, Antonio added.

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