Shipwreck off Newfoundland: At least four people die when a fishing trawler sinks

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A Canadian Coast Guard ship (archive image): numerous sailors missing

Photo: Carbonbrain / IMAGO

At least four people have died when a Spanish fishing trawler sank off the coast of Canada.

The ship sank on Tuesday night off the island of Newfoundland off Canada's Atlantic coast, the Spanish authorities said.

The rescue workers were able to save three people.

In addition, numerous people are still missing, the AFP news agency writes of 15, the dpa of 17 missing.

The survivors were found hypothermic in a lifeboat, official Maica Larriba, from Pontevedra in the northwestern Spanish region of Galicia, the trawler's home region, said on Spanish radio.

According to the information, the rescue workers found two empty lifeboats and are looking for a fourth.

The Spanish government is following the rescue operation "with concern," Spanish government spokeswoman Isabel Rodríguez told journalists in Madrid.

As Spanish media reported, the crew members of the "Villa de Pitanxo" came from Spain, Peru and Ghana.

bbr/AFP