The sunken hope of finding the sailor Nando

Fishermen in the Cantabrian port of Santoña.

Three and a half weeks ago, the sea ended up engulfing the expert fisherman Fernando Solano when his boat was wrecked at dawn while catching anchovies in the Cantabrian Sea.

Nine companions managed to be rescued by other ships.

No sign of Nando, 54, a crew member of the Maremi, a fishing vessel in the port of Santoña (Cantabria, 11,000 inhabitants) sunk 130 meters deep.

The family believes that the body has been trapped there since July 15, but the authorities have reduced the intensity of the search due to the difficulties of descending to that abyss nine miles from an area west of Santander.

More information

• A missing person and nine sailors rescued after capsizing a fishing boat in Cantabria

Mariano Solano, a 47-year-old sailor from Santoña and brother of the disappeared, criticizes that the rescue operations let the ship sink before undertaking the search. According to Solano, this made it difficult to find Nando, since at such depth the tasks are very complex. “And I ask, friend, how much has been spent searching for the criminal from Tenerife [the also disappeared man who took his two daughters in April on a boat in the Canary Islands, without yet locating one of them] or the child who was [Baby Julen, who disappeared in Malaga in 2019 and found after 13 days of rescue, fell into the well] ”. Solano insists on thanking every penny spent in helping those harmed by both cases, but claims the same for his brother's.The Maritime Rescue deployment included several specialized vessels and a remote-controlled robot to survey the depths, but to no avail. The authorities announced that, after 10 days without fruit, the work would be reduced to tracking the sea surface. Solano is the first to assume the risks of the union, but he does not accept that his brother, who has been working since he was 16 years old, continues without being located.

The fishing vessel 'Maremi' capsized in the early morning of July 15th nine miles north of Cabo Mayor, west of Santander.

Photo provided by the Government of Cantabria.

Susana López is Nando's wife and mother of two daughters, ages 24 and 20.

"I don't want to talk to anyone, just keep looking even if they say it's impossible," he sobs.

López feels “supported by the people” of a fishing village that knows misfortunes of this type well.

Crying interrupts his words, spoken on the phone because he still does not see himself in a position to discuss the subject in person.

They notice the affection of the residents of Santoña in every walk through the streets, because the sea supports so many families that few have escaped any scare.

Guillermo Revilla tells it, who combs gray hair and watches the crew who work tirelessly to order the ships among the smell of fish, salted fish and seaweed.

The groups place the fishing gear and prepare everything for the next outing of the bonito and anchovy campaign.

Revilla has dedicated his life to fishing and shellfish.

It recalls a serious episode in 2004, in which a town boat sank and only three of the bodies were found.

Two are still missing.

"They were never heard from again."

Mariano Solano, Fernando's brother, a fisherman who disappeared in the shipwreck of the ship 'Maremi' from Santoña in July.

The day on which the Maremi capsized demonstrated the dangerousness of the sea. It was not a day of strong tides or storms, and even so the tragedy was unleashed. Sailors speculate that a possible overweight fishing caused the vessel to capsize. Only the rapid intervention of Siempre Alba, one of the fishing boats that combed the area, prevented the list of casualties of that crew from being swelled. Mariano Solano, Nando's brother, was also in those same waters. He helped save the men who clung as best they could to the cork that allows the nets to float. "I asked about my brother but no one could say anything," he laments. Fate wanted that a few days after the misfortune, the Siempre Alba caught fire and its occupants also needed help,a demonstration according to these men that they cannot afford even a second of relaxation when sailing.

The Cantabrian summer implies that hundreds of people come to this municipality, which has various tourist and scenic attractions, although the culinary usually takes precedence. The fish markets and fishmongers welcome queues of customers eager to take one of those beautiful freshly caught or the valued anchovies that the many local canneries are responsible for distributing by the best restaurants. Visitors also come to the moorings to observe and photograph the vessels responsible for the tasty fish ending up on the grills and on the plates. A couple from Madrid who stroll through the well-kept port, overlooking the natural park of the Santoña marshes, observes this movement and recognizes that the night before, from their hotel in nearby Laredo, they saw the lights of the fishing boats at dawn and they admired each other. of your employment."You imagine that they are happy and content at night, fishing in the sea," they comment, although once the day has dawned and near the boat they confirm the demands of these lives linked to water. Both, they admit, did not know that a sailor is missing after his ship sank three weeks ago. Santoña, on the other hand, resigns himself to the lack of news from that veteran navigator who was swallowed by the sea that feeds them.he resigned himself to the lack of news from that veteran navigator who was swallowed by the sea that feeds them.he resigned himself to the lack of news from that veteran navigator who was swallowed by the sea that feeds them.